NBC averaged a 16.2/28 national rating and 27.7 million viewers for its 17 prime-time telecasts of the Beijing Olympics, up 8.0 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively, over a 15.0/26 and 24.6 million average viewers for the 2004 Athens Games. The 16.2 rating is the best for a non-U.S. Summer Games since a 17.1/33 for the 1992 Barcelona Games, and the 27.7 million average viewers are the most for a non-U.S. Olympics since the 1976 Montreal Games.    Read More  >

Gold
Jerry Colangelo
The architect behind USA Basketball's reinvention should take a bow. In three short years, he transformed the program, working with coach Mike Krzyzewski to get notoriously selfish NBA players to create what could be considered the first national hoops team.

Silver
Bob Costas
Throughout the Olympics, he's been praised for his interview skills, but they never shined brighter than during his time with IOC President Jacques Rogge over the weekend. From Joey Cheek to human rights, he pushed the IOC leader on some of the issues that NBC neglected to tackle during the 17 days of the Games.

London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag.

Bronze
USA Track & Field
The U.S. team managed to top its medal count from Athens behind bright spots like men's decathlon gold and women's discus gold. But its performance will be marred by baton drops in the men's and women's 4x100-meter relays, and by barely winning the gold-medal count over Jamaica, Russia and even Kenya. Is it time for the organization to reinvent itself like USA Basketball did?

Tin
London
Was that shot from Buckingham Palace underwhelming or what? London's contribution to the Closing Ceremony in Beijing included a bland interview with Michael Phelps, an odd performance by Jimmy Page on top of a bus and a mayor who couldn't even button his jacket.

The Closing Ceremony in Beijing not only marked the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics but also the final Olympics that Peter Ueberroth would attend as chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Ueberroth’s term comes to an end this fall when he will transition into a non-voting role on the USOC’s board of directors. As the Beijing Games wrapped up, he sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Tripp Mickle to talk about the impact of the 2008 Olympics, the future of the USOC and the future of the Olympics.    Read More  >

NBC through Saturday night was averaging a 16.2/28 national rating and 27.7 million viewers for its prime-time coverage of the Beijing Games, up 6.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, from a 15.2/27 and 24.9 million viewers for the same period at the 2004 Athens Games. Through Saturday night, the network had drawn 211 million viewers for the Games, surpassing the 209 million viewers for the 1996 Atlanta Games to become the most-viewed Olympics in U.S. history.    Read More  >

It’s never easy for television networks to cover the Olympics when they don’t own the rights. When a network pays $894 million for the rights to broadcast the Beijing Games, like NBC did, it gets and enforces exclusive access to athletes for on-camera interviews at stadiums.

The U.S. Olympic Committee tries to make athletes available to non-rightsholders within a few hours of competition, but a failure to do so with three medal-winning American fencers on the Games’ opening Saturday rubbed ESPN the wrong way.    Read More  >

Universal Sports, the Olympic channel co-owned by NBC and InterMedia Partners, will offer the first-ever TV and digital broadcast of the Paralympic Games courtesy of an agreement with BOCOG and the International Paralympic Committee.    Read More  >

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” is trying to book all of the U.S. medalists from the 2008 Olympic Games for a special in September, Olympic agents say.

Three Olympic agents who represent 2008 medal-winning athletes, said that the show contacted them and asked if their athletes would be interested in appearing on a show with all of the 2008 Olympic medalists. To date, the U.S. has won 102 medals in Beijing.    Read More  >

As I watch NBC’s coverage of the Olympic track and field competition two things become crystal clear. First, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is to track what Michael Phelps is to swimming.

Secondly, track analyst Ato Boldon has become a real star for NBC with his enthusiasm, knowledge and colorful style, which lights up the TV screen.    Read More  >

NBC is averaging a 16.9/29 national rating and 29.0 million viewers through 13 prime-time telecasts of the Beijing Olympics, up 7.0 percent over a 15.8/27 for the same period at the 2004 Athens Games. The 16.9 rating is the best prime-time mark through the second Wednesday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since a 17.9/34 for the 1992 Barcelona Games.    Read More  >

Gold
China TV rights windfall
For all the criticism the IOC has faced for bringing the Olympics to China, it's hard to ignore the payoff it will see by converting 1.3 billion people into fans of the Olympics. The net result for the bottom line is expected to be a 2,000 percent increase in TV rights fees from China, bringing CCTV's contribution to the IOC's bottom line from $18.5 million to more than $400 million.

Silver
London
Is anyone else getting excited about London 2012? The city plans to provide a glimpse of what its Games could be this Sunday with a Trafalgar Square ceremony that will feature Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, soccer star David Beckham and aquaman Michael Phelps. God save the Queen.

IOC President Jacques Rogge (right)

Bronze
IOC President Jacques Rogge
Good sportsmanship is important. No one will disagree with that. But criticizing Usain Bolt for indulging in celebratory dancing after he broke the 200-meter world record seemed a bit out of place for the head of an organization that's been largely silent when it comes to China's limits on press freedom and the right to protest during the last two weeks.

Tin
NBC's "live" graphic
For the last two weeks, NBC has said that it can't remove the "Live" graphic from its delayed West Coast broadcasts. Now comes word from the company that supplies NBC's on-air graphic that taking the "Live" graphic down can be done "at the source and during the event," USA Today reported. Sounds simple enough, so why has NBC resisted making the change?