China leads Olympic Games with 8 gold medals

Four world records fell Monday at the Water Cube, with Michael Phelps winning his second gold of the Beijing Olympics. India won its first-ever individual Olympic gold, China its second straight diving medal and the games were hit by their first doping case. 

Phelps and his teammates set a world mark in winning the 4x100 freestyle relay, barely beating France in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds. In the first leg of the race, Eamon Sullivan of Australia broke the individual 100 world record in 47.24, beating the previous mark of 47.50. 

"You could tell I was pretty excited," said Phelps, who is trying to win eight golds at the Beijing Games. "I lost my voice and I was definitely pretty emotional out there."

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his 100-meter breaststroke Olympic title in a record time of 58.91 seconds, and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe shaved two-tenths of a second off the 100-meter backstroke record to win her semifinal in 58.77 seconds. 

India's Abhinav Bindra won the 10-meter air rifle, ending decades of Olympic misery for the country and earning the shooter cash and a lifetime railway pass. India's last Olympic gold was a team medal at the 1980 Moscow Games in men's field hockey, a sport which it once dominated but did not qualify for in Beijing. 

Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno was ousted from the games after testing positive for EPO, a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance. The International Olympic Committee said Moreno, who was to compete in the women's individual time trial, was tested in the athletes' village on July 31 and left China later that day before the result was in.

Moreno is the first athlete caught under the IOC's Beijing drug-testing program, which includes a record 4,500 doping controls. 

In tennis, Wimbledon and French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in his debut in Olympic singles. The second-seeded Spaniard will supplant Roger Federer at the top the rankings next week, regardless of the outcome at the Olympics. 

Federer also won, beating Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-2. Serena Williams also beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 6-1, resuming Sunday's rained-out match.

In the pool, Phelps' attempt at breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a single games appeared doomed when France took the lead of the relay at the 250-meter mark. 

They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 meters before Jason Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes. Nearly a body length behind Alain Bernard at the final turn, he overtook the Frenchman at the wall by a fingertip. 

The U.S. team shattered the world record of 3:12.23 they set in Sunday's preliminaries. Australia won bronze in 3:09.91. 

Phelps, who swam the first leg, thrust both arms toward the roof after Lezak's incredible finish. 

"I was going nuts," Phelps said. "As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy." 

Phelps also advanced to Tuesday's 200 freestyle final where he will go for gold No. 3. He qualified fourth-fastest in his semifinal in 1:46.28, a day after he shattered the 400 individual medley world record to win his first gold.

Coventry broke the record of 58.97 set by Natalie Coughlin at last month's U.S. trials. The two are the fastest going into Tuesday's final. 

In the men's 100 breaststroke, Kitajima rallied from third after 50 meters to break the 59.13 world record set by Brendan Hansen of the United States two years ago. 

"It was perfect," Kitajima said. 

Libby Trickett captured her first Olympic gold in the women's 100 butterfly in 56.73 seconds, just 0.12 off the world record, and Britain's Rebecca Adlington overhauled Katie Hoff of the United States in the final meters to win the 400 freestyle in 4:03.22. 

In diving, China's Lin Yue and Huo Liang won the men's 10-meter synchronized title, spurred on by chanting, flag-waving fans. The pair led throughout, taking gold with a mark of 468.18 points. 

In shooting, Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland won the gold in women's trap, hitting 21 targets in the finals and earning a final score of 91 to set an Olympic record. 

"I did not believe I would win today," she said. "It is amazing."