A cyclist (surprise!) was the first athlete to test positive for an illegal performance-enhancing drug at the Beijing Olympics. Spanish road racer Maria Isabel Moreno, a 3-time national champion, was busted for EPO. Moreno was required to give a urine sample on July 31, the day after arriving in Beijing.

She flew back to Spain that evening before the results were known, citing an "anxiety attack." According to a Spanish official, "She was crying all the time and she insisted she wanted to go home." The initial sample and her B sample both were positive for the blood-enhancing drug. "This is not good news for Spanish cycling," understated the general secretary of the Spanish Cycling Federation.

Two other Spaniards (Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas) were caught doping just weeks earlier in the Tour de France. Moreno, 27, could now be barred from the 2012 Olympics under a new International Olympic Committee rule. A record 4,500 doping controls are planned for these Olympics, which conclude on Aug. 24. IOC president Jacques Rogge has predicted that 30-40 will be positive.

Overheard: "I'm disgusted and annoyed that a Spanish cyclist has been the first athlete to be found positive of doping at the Olympic Games . . . that cycling is in the headlines of the world's media, despite all of the crackdowns we have been doing." -- Pat McQuiad, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), blaming Spain for what he calls a "lax attitude" about doping.