China dominating medals race so far

BEIJING - The records, the medals. They just keep piling up.

Michael Phelps? Yeah, him, too.

The most dominant force thus far at these Olympics is the Big Red Machine known as the Chinese delegation.

By adding three golds, a silver and two bronzes to their collection Monday, China leads the pack with 14 total medals. Nine of those are gold.

To appreciate how impressive those numbers are, consider:

• The United States has the second-most medals with 12. None of the other 203 delegations have won as many medals of any color as China has won of the very best shade.
• No other country has won more than four golds. China has won that many in weightlifting alone.
• China has had nine different gold winners. The U.S. has only three golds, and two are by Phelps.

He’s trying for eight and so far has looked up to the challenge, setting world records in both his finals. While anchorman Jason Lezak was the star of the 400 freestyle relay, Phelps still set an American record with his opening leg, then he returned to the Water Cube eight hours later and set an Olympic record in a preliminary heat of the 200-meter butterfly.

Day 3 of the Beijing Games went off under better weather — hardly any rain, with the bonus of Sunday’s rain rinsing away some of the pollution.

But another kind of dark cloud appeared. Drugs.

Maria Isabel Moreno, a three-time national cycling champion from Spain, became the first athlete kicked out of the Beijing Olympics for doping after testing positive for EPO, a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance and has been at the center of numerous cycling scandals in recent years.

She was tested in the athletes’ village July 31 and moved out the same day before learning the result, the International Olympic Committee said. She was to have competed in two races here. Instead, she might be barred from the 2012 games, too.

If Phelps wins seven or eight gold medals and gets a $1 million bonus from Speedo, he’ll need to spend a chunk on Lezak.

Lezak dove in second to 100 star Alain Bernard of France. He was still trailing with about 25 meters to go, but zoomed to the wall first — 0.08 second ahead of Bernard.

Phelps threw his arms up and began hollering with the joy of a lottery winner. He sort of is, considering the odds the Americans faced, from Phelps finishing his leadoff lap in second place to Lezak trailing Bernard after the final turn, and considering the history — and big bucks — on the line.

The Americans finished in 3:08.24, a touch under 4 seconds faster than the world record set the night before by their qualifying crew.

“Unbelievable,” Phelps said. “Jason’s last 10 or 15 meters were incredible.”

Lezak covered his lap in 46.06, the fastest relay leg in history though it doesn’t count as an official record. Phelps’ 47.51 does go into the record books as a U.S. best.

“A fingertip did the victory,” said Amaury Leveaux, one of the French swimmers. “It is nothing.”

Katie Hoff knows exactly how bummed the French are.

She built a big lead in the 400 freestyle, but touched 0.07 after Britain’s Rebecca Adlington. After two of her five individual races, Hoff has a silver and a bronze — the amount she expected, but not necessarily the right color.

“I got a bronze yesterday and a silver this morning. If I keep climbing at this pace, I’ll be happy,” said Hoff, who has three more individual events, plus a relay.

In other morning action, American Christine Magnuson finished second in the 100-meter butterfly; American Brendan Hansen had the agony of finishing fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and the added disappointment of losing his world record to winner Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima; and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe set a world record in the 100-meter backstroke semifinals, taking down the mark set this summer by American Natalie Coughlin.

At night, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini set a world record in the 200 freestyle preliminaries.

Phelps also found time Monday to advance to the finals of the 200 free. A victory would give Phelps his ninth career gold medal, tying him with four others including Mark Spitz and track star Carl Lewis, for most Olympic golds.

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