After American swimming legend Michael Phelps, it was the turn of world football champions Spain to become another major casualty in London Olympics.
Spain was eliminated at the first round of the Olympic men's football competition on Sunday after suffering a shock 1-0 defeat by Honduras in Group D.
A seventh minute header goal by striker Jerry Bengtson at St James' Park dumped Spain out of the Games, while an earlier 2-2 draw with Morocco was enough for Honduras to progress to the second round along with Japan, who beat Morocco 1-0 on Sunday.
The humiliating defeat comes within a month of Spain winning the Euro Cup. An Olympic gold medal would have made Spain an unparalleled team in football history to win all the three major crowns in a row -World Cup, Euro Cup, and Olympics. Spain, which lost to Japan in the opening day, has no points so far.
Within two matches Bengtson turned Honduran hero, who scored both goals in his side's opening match against Morocco.
Britain beat UAE 3-1 in Group A to mark its first Olympic win since 1960.
Ten-man Senegal blew the group wide open with a shock 2-0 win over highly-fancied Uruguay at Wembley.
Brazil beat Belarus 3-1 to qualify for the last eight with one match to spare from Group C, while Egypt drew 1-1 with New Zealand. Brazil were given a stern test by Belarus, who opened the scoring through Renan Bardini Bressan. Neymar crossed for Alexandre Pato to equalize and also set up Oscar for Brazil's third after his brilliant effort had put them ahead.
In Group B, Mexico picked up a 2-0 victory against Gabon and South Korea secured a 2-1 win over Switzerland.
Also on Sunday, Kim Rhode became the first American to win individual medals at five straight Olympics by securing gold in shooting.
Rhode, skeet shooting silver medalist in Beijing four years ago, secured the title with seven shots remaining, shooting a world record-equaling 99 to finish eight points ahead of China's Wei Ning at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
In other news in London Olympics, Uzbek gymnast Luiza Galiulina was provisionally suspended after she tested positive for the prohibited substance furosemide. The IOC Disciplinary Commission said it will pronounce a final decision upon receipt of the results of the B Sample analysis.
It was the second doping case of the games.
China leads the medal tally at the end of the third day with 6 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes, followed by the United States (3-5-3) and Italy (2-3-2).
1 China 6-4-2
2 United States 3-5-3
3 Italy 2-3-2
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