We'll go in-depth recapping the Beijing Olympics on this weekend's edition of Sports Business Radio, but here's a quick list of my winners and losers:

WINNERS:

1.) Michael Phelps - 8 gold medals took him from Olympic champion to Olympic icon. He is now the most decorated Olympic athlete ever. And he's well spoken, humble and good looking. Phelps will likely earn over $100M the rest of his life from endorsements, speaking engagements and book deals. And he could add to his legend in 2012 in London. The Olympics may never see a performace like the one he treated us to this month again.

2.) Usain Bolt - He electrified us with his dominating performances in Beijing and is mentioned in the same breath as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis. And he's seemingly clean. But his last name may make him one of the most marketable athletes ever. Being a sprinter and having a last name of Bolt - are you kidding me? I say the San Diego Chargers sign him up, make him a WR and have QB Philip Rivers tell him to go long on every play. Can you imagine how many Bolt jerseys the "Bolts" would sell?

3.) Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony -  The Redeem Teamers grew their legends by winning gold and electrifying a nation of 1.3B eager consumers. Nike deserves a lot of credit (Nike-owned Converse for Wade and Nike-owned Jordan Brand for Melo) for taking these guys over to China the past few summers and increasing their popularity. Each of these players will reap big endorsement success and product sales for years to come after these Olympics.

4.) Nastia Liukin - The gymnast who won all-around gold and 5 medals overall will be the new Mary-Lou Retton.

LOSERS:

1.) IOC - from the Opening Ceremonies that brought us a lip-syncing girl and fake fireworks to the 16 days of the Games themselves that covered up protests or anything that would make the host nation be seen in a negative light (underage gymnasts), the IOC fooled a lot of people, but not me.

2.) NBC - While the network brought us some great images of Beijing, they laid down for the Chinese government and the IOC. Other than the games themselves (which were tape delayed and advertised as "LIVE"), the network brought us next to no coverage of anything going on in the host nation. And the TODAY show was nothing more than a cheesy infomercial for the Olympics.

3.) Liu Xiang - The most hyped athlete of the Beijing Games never even got started. Nike spent millions making him the face of their campaign in China and the 2004 gold medalist in the 110m hurdles pulled up lame. A nation was in shock and Xiang may be shunned from his country in the future for failing to win gold. That's the harsh reality for Chinese athletes who don't win gold.