Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games

The shoes Bernarnd Lagat will be running in--the Air Matumbo from Nike--seem to weigh as much as a potato chip bag, but that's not the best part.

With the Olympics about to begin, some multinationals are betting big with over $800 million in sponsorship rights.  Does the big investment in advertising payoff?

A colleague of mine here in China took a picture of the concession prices on the Olympic Green, where the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube are.

Friday's Opening Ceremonies are going to be what I'm calling the most expensive four hours in sports history. The Chinese are going to spare no expense in their coming out party to the world.

For the second straight Summer Olympiad, swimsuit maker Speedo is floating a $1 million prize to Michael Phelps if he ties Mark Spitz's 1972 gold medal record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.

I think I've been to roughly 75 stadiums and arenas throughout my life and I think I'm going to come away from these Olympics ranking the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube as the top two.

A strong earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring 23 near the site of May's devastating quake that killed at least 70,000 people.

Michael Phelps showed up in Beijing with a Fu Manchu. It had our group here buzzing about whether the most high profile Olympic swimmer was really going to keep it throughout the games.

In the spirit of the Beijing Olympics set to begin on Friday, we thought it would be fun to apply a CNBC twist to the summer games.  Which World Market Index is poised to win the gold?

Ever since Waldi entered our world at the 1972 Olympic Games, mascots have been an essential part of this event. So without further to do, here are my top five Olympic mascots. Unfortunately, the five "fuwa" from this year's games didn't make the cut.

Monday marked the 3-year mark for the London 2012 Olympic Games. "Things are very much on track," Paul Deighton, CEO of LOCOG, said. While the infrastructure has been paid for by the taxpayer, the cost of running the Games is funded privately through ticket and merchandise sales and raising sponsorships, he added.

"It's on time, it's on budget, which is exactly what we want," Michael Charlton, CEO of Think London said of the London 2012 Olympic Games. "In terms of tourism and business, it's going to have an enormous impact and it will have a catalytic effect which is exactly why we bid for the Games in the first place."

The London 2012 Olympic Games are less than 3 years away now. "It's good to be where we are, which is exactly where we planned to be a couple of years ago. Two years from now, we intend to have finished," John Armitt, chairman of Olympic Delivery Authority said.

Insight on why the record-breaking Speedo suit and others are being banned, with CNBC's Darren Rovell.

While investors turn to gold as a safe haven, they aren't necessarily choosing the right investment vehicle, Stephan Mueller from Julius Baer Physical Gold Fund said. Go into gold for reducing your portfolio risk overall, but watch out as the metal has no additional returns, he warned.

The infrastructure construction for the London Olympics is well ahead of schedule and will be completed on time for the 2010 games, Duncan Mackay from insidethegames.com told CNBC.

Olympic celebrations kick off across Britain this weekend to mark the 3-year countdown to the London 2012 games. Karen Webb, director at Vero Communications, spoke to CNBC about sponsorship of the Olympics.

Don Luskin, Chief Investment Officer at Trend Macrolytics, is waiting for Ben Bernanke to reassure the markets over deflation before he gets back into riskier assets like commodity stocks. CNBC's Sri Jegarajah, Amanda Drury and Martin Soong also join in

The launch of a channel dedicated to Olympic coverage, with Peter Ueberroth USOC chairman & president/Contrarian Group managing director, CEO & owner.

Sponsorship for the London 2012 Olympic Games is approaching capacity. One company behind the Games is Deloitte, the exclusive provider of professional services in its category of sponsorship. Annabel Pritchard from Deloitte discusses the sponsorship.