UPDATE, 1:02 PM: The final numbers are in and last night’s XXX Summer Olympics (21.8/35) was a win for more than Michael Phelps or the U.S. Women’s Gymnastic team. Tuesday’s 8-11:43 PM broadcast on NBC has become the highest rated night of all the Games since 1996 in Atlanta. The coverage was also the best Tuesday night broadcast on any network since February 19, 2002 during the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games. With those number, last night’s broadcast now beats the first Tuesday night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by 9%, as well as being 19% more than the 2004 Athens Summer Games.

PREVIOUSLY, 8:47 AM: Tuesday’s XXX Summer Olympics (12.2/33) will be remembered for the day Michael Phelps scored his 19th medal and became the most decorated Olympian of all time.  There was also the win of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team. It will also, at least in fast nationals, be remember as one of the widest rating variations. On NBC, last night’s primetime was down 2% from the 2008 Beijing Games but it was up 122% from the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010. After five nights, the 2012 London Games is up 6% among Adults 18-49 and 13% in total viewers, 35.3 million vs. 31.3 million. ABC’s NY Med (0.6/1) was the only new show on TV last night that wasn’t the Olympics. The fourth episode of the medical docudrama was down 45% from last week, it’s lowest rating to date. Otherwise, ABC ran encores of The Middle (0.7/2), Last Man Standing (0.5/2) and Wipeout (0.7/2). CBS had a night of repeats with NCIS (1.0/3), NCIS:LA (1.0/2) and Person of Interest (0.9/2). Fox ran two episodes of MasterChef at 8 PM (1.0/2) and 9 PM (0.9/2). NBC won the night among Adults 18-49 and, with 37.48 million watching, took Tuesday among total viewers.

Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.