Quest for 1st Olympic gold begins

ATHENS (via Globe Telecom) — A boxer and a shooter will begin the nation’s mission for an Olympic gold while three swimmers, ranged against the world’s best, will plunge into action with the hope of improving their personal best in the Athens Games today.

Juan Miguel Mendoza, a repeat Olympian, Miguel Molina and Timmy Chua will compete in their respective heats at the Aquatic Center together with shooter Jethro Dionisio and boxer Chris Camat as competition goes full blast in the Games.

The Philippine team, with Camat himself as the flagbearer, was to march in the grand opening of what the Greeks called the "greatest Games ever" late last night in the Olympic Village.

Clad in traditional barongs, the Filipinos were set to march in 197th out of 202 nations, the order of appearance set according to the Greek alphabet.

But Filipino officials were seriously thinking of replacing Camat as the carrier of the Philippine colors, fearing that the six-hour rites may take its toll on the middleweight fighter who is to fight Saturday against Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov, a Russian silver medalist four years ago in Sydney and the reigning European champion.

The three swimmers who belong to a five-man team in the compact Philippine contingent will also try to literally soak in the experience of clashing with the top tankers in the world in preparation for future regional wars like the Southeast Asian Games in Manila next year.

Molina, who donned the national colors in two SEA Games, the Asian Games and the world championship in Barcelona last year, will compete in one of the heats in the 400-meter individual medley. Mendoza will also compete in the heats of the 400-m freestyle where he had emerged as the only Filipino ever to clock under four minutes.

The 21-year-old Chua will vie in the 100-m breaststroke where he gained passage into the Olympics by cracking the qualifying mark in the event in the Hong Kong Division I championship a week before the entry deadline back home.

"I will just try to improve on my personal best and if I achieve that, okay na ako," said the University of the Philippines student, who clocked 1:04.03 in the event to break the qualifying mark of 1:05.02 in Hong Kong.

Mendoza, a swim scholar at the University of Georgia who had a best time of 3:53.07 in the 400-m freestyle, has long concentrated on the 1,500-m and would, in fact, use his stint in the 400-m free to tune up for the other event.

"I don’t expect so much from my 400-m free because it’s no longer my event so I will use it as a warm up for the 1,500-m," he said.

Mendoza has won the gold medal in the 1,500-m freestyle and the silver in the 400-m free in last year’s Sea Games in Hanoi. He had a qualifying time of 4:03.54 in the 400-m freestyle although it was way off the 3:42.58 of Australian Ian Thorpe.

The 20-year-old Molina, a University of California in Berkeley student who trains under coaches Mike Bottom and Nort Thornton, is skipping the Games’ opening ceremonies to prime up for his four events here - the 400 individual medley, the 200-m IM, 200-m free and the 200-m breaststroke.

He gained the qualifying times in all four events in the Hanoi SEA Games although his time of 4:23.26 in the 400-m individual medley could only rank 27th against the time of 4:08.41 of American champ Michael Phelps who will try to swim off for eight golds to break the record of seven made by compatriot Mark Spitz.

Two other RP swimmers, both Fil-Ams, are scheduled to see action next with pretty Jacklyn Pangilinan, a Harvard University-bound freshman, going to the block of the 100-m breaststroke Sunday and James R. Walsh, a student at the University of Florida, casting his bid in the 200-m butterfly Monday.

The 32-year-old Dionisio, who has earned world acclaim as the fastest draw in practical shooting before shifting to an Olympic event, will go up in trap shooting’s qualification round, shooting 75 clay pigeons.

Another 50 targets will be held the following day with the top six shooters shooting off for the medals with final 25 targets.

"Maganda naman ang ensayo pero may kaba tayo dahil first time tayo (I’m doing well in practice but there’s pressure because I’m a first timer)," he said.

He had a personal best of 117 in the event which he submitted in earning the bronze in the Busan Asian Games two years ago. Australian Michael Diamond had 124 in winning the gold in the Sydney Games while four shooters held the world record of 125 - Giovanni Pellielo and Marcello Tittarelli of Italy and Ray Yoong and Lance Bade of the United States.