Gold
Michael Phelps
Some in the United States feel like NBC overdid it this week in their focus on Phelps. If the swimmer had fallen short of eight gold medals, they might have been on point. But he didn't. And both NBC and Phelps stand to benefit big time. NBC pulled the largest Olympic audience (31.1 million viewers) on a Saturday night since 1990. And Phelps is poised to see a major spike in his income, followed by a lifetime of commanding significant appearance fees.

Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser

Silver
Puma
"The proud sponsors of the Jamaican Olympic team" just got a whole lot prouder. The company can lay claim to the world's fastest man and fastest woman following the 100-meter victories by Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser.

The results have given Puma immediate visibility among its competitors (Nike, Adidas and Li Ning) who spent more sponsoring either BOCOG or a multitude of Olympic teams.

Bronze
Mark Wetmore
The agent at Global Athletics Management had a tough weekend. First, Tyson Gay (Wetmore's stud sprinter) failed to qualify for the finals of the 100-meter dash. Then, Liu Xiang, the Chinese superstar hurdler who Wetmore works with, injured his Achilles and exited the competition. In an endorsement world based in part on performance, both results will hurt for some time to come.

Tin
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian
Yes, this one is obvious and the IOC has already penalized Abrahamian, but it's worth repeating. There's no room in the Olympics or any other sport for someone to publicly toss a medal or trophy just because they're dissatisfied with the result. It denigrates the work of your competitors, belittles those who have organized and sanctioned the competition, and is just plain rude.

Mark Wetmore, president of Global Athletics & Marketing, one of the top track and field talent and meet production shops, has had a tough week in China.

Wetmore represents American sprinter Tyson Gay, a gold-medal contender who failed to get to the finals of the 100 meters during the weekend following an injury-plagued summer. Wetmore also is the agent for Liu Xiang, China’s national sports hero and hurdler who pulled out of the Olympics today with an injury.    Read More  >

Nastia Liukin shows off her all-around gold medal.

Not long after Nastia Liukin won gold in the women’s gymnastics all around, her agent Evan Morgenstein escorted her mother down to see her. As mother and daughter hugged, Nastia’s father, Valeri, spoke to Morgenstein.

“I did what I needed to do,” he said. “Now you do what you need to do.”

Morgenstein, who repeated that story a day later, said he is focused on building Liukin’s brand so that it lasts forever.    Read More  >

U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay will make his Olympic debut this weekend in the highly anticipated 100 meters in Beijing. An injury suffered July 5 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., prohibited Gay from qualifying for the 200 meters, but his agent, Global Athletics’ Mark Wetmore, said missing out on the 200 will not affect the sprinter's sponsorships.     Read More  >

Gold
Ad buyers
If anyone's looking good these days, it's the ad buyers who bought time during the Olympics. Ratings are exceeding expectations, garnering a 17.6 national average after the first six nights, and NBC is winning every night in prime time.

Silver
Speedo's LZR Racer
A lot has been written about the success of Speedo's new swimsuit, but they continue to shine every night in Beijing. The better news is that there's been little talk about swimsuits as "technological" doping, or about the Tyr lawsuits. All of that's keeping the focus on the swimmers in the pool.

Bronze
BOCOG EVP Wang Wei
Throughout the run-up to the Olympics, the torch relay protests and the questions about air quality, BOCOG Executive Vice President Wang Wei has kept his cool. But yesterday he began to crack, criticizing international media for coming to China to find something wrong. While he may have a point, he's not helping himself and things could get ugly fast if he remains combative.

Tin
Ticket sales
Beach volleyball was half-full yesterday. Wrestling was largely empty for the evening session. And table tennis, a favorite in China, had only a third of the stands full last night. What happened to the first "sold-out" Olympics? Many international Olympic fans stayed home this summer because there were no tickets available. Now they're looking at the TV in disappointment. Was all of the boasting about a "sold-out" Games just spin?

Cat Osterman

Cat Osterman yesterday recorded only the second no-hitter by an American in Olympic softball history, propelling the gold-medal favorite U.S. team to another convincing win in Beijing.

The performance came at an important time for Osterman and her teammates, as softball won't be included at the 2012 London Games. Fortunately for Osterman, her two largest endorsement contracts — with Wilson Sporting Goods and Under Armour — don’t expire until 2011.    Read More  >

NBC may be thrilled about its ratings, but what about CCTV, China’s official TV network, which has multiple channels? According to the International Olympic Committee, 840 million Chinese people tuned in to at least some of the opening ceremony last Friday night.

The ceremony was shown on six different CCTV channels, plus some regional channels. The average audience in China during the opening ceremony was 496 million people, for an 83 share.    Read More  >

Cullen Jones

U.S. swimmer Cullen Jones won gold Monday in his only event of the Beijing Games, swimming the third leg in the United States’ come-from-behind victory in the 400-meter men's freestyle relay final.

But as good as Jones looked in the water Monday, it’s his look outside the pool that his agent, Premier Management Group’s Evan Morgenstein, says could present Jones with some of his most promising endorsement opportunities.    Read More  >

With media analysts and critics continuing to review NBC’s coverage of the Games, SBJ/SBD asked our own Olympic Roundtable to evaluate the coverage thus far, particularly the balance of coverage, the controversial “live vs. taped” aspect and reviews of NBC’s talent.    Read More  >