China takes early lead in medal tally

BEIJING (AP) — 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:

UThe 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.

UNo other country has won more than four golds. China has won that many in weightlifting alone.

UChina 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. 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.