Doping hits the Games

The Beijing Olympics has suffered its first doping scandal only three days after competition begun.

Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno was kicked out of the games yesterday after testing positive for the common endurance enhancing drug EPO. 

Moreno was due to compete in the women’s road race and individual time trial but left Beijing after being tested on July 31, blaming an anxiety attack.

Tennis loses another seed

The women’s tennis tournament has lost another of its top seed players.

French Open Champion Serbian Ana Ivanovic is the 4^th high-ranked player to pull out of the Olympics after failing to recover from an injured thumb.

Ivanovic’s departure is more bad news after showers postponed all but nine of the 45 matches in the first weekend’s tournaments.

Eyes on Beijing

During the Olympics, grey-power are taking it to the streets.

Beefing up security during the Games, communities in Beijing have organized senior residents to be security volunteers to keep an eye on their neighborhood and anything untoward.

With an average age of about 50 they get no pay but are provided with uniforms, including the distinctive red armband and medicine for heat stroke.  

Games recap

Another in the bag for Team USA

Team USA snatched another gold yesterday in the men’s 4 x 100 metre freestyle – literally by a finger.

The four-man team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak, won the event by a finger length, clocking in at a blazing 3.08.24, eight-hundredths-of-a-second ahead of favourites France.

The win has elevated Phelps haul to two and furthered his goal of claiming eight golds in one Olympics.

One of the most competitive events in swimming, all the top five teams from yesterday’s race beat the past world record which was shattered by nearly four seconds.

Lifting China above the rest

China continued its force in weightlifting after veteran lifters added two more golds to China's medal tally.

Chen Yanqing retained her women's 58kg Olympic title with a combined lift of 244kg.

Marina Shainova from Russia took the silver medal with a total of 227kg, while O Jong Ae from North Korea got the bronze with 226kg, beating Thai Wandee Kameaim

The 29-year-old Chen is the first strongwoman in the world to successfully defend her Olympic title since the women's weightlifting entered the summer Olympics in Sydney eight years ago.