Mendoza vows to close out stint with big splash

ATHENS (Via Globe Telecom) — Tanker Miguel Mendoza hopes to better his Philippine record in the 1,500-meter freestyle Friday when he makes his final appearance in the 28th Olympic Games at the Aquatics Center here.

"That’s my main objective. That’s precisely why I’m training hard so early," said the 22-year-old Mendoza Thursday just before he worked out at 6:30 a.m.

This is the second Olympic stint for Mendoza, a University of Georgia student majoring in MIS. He also carried the RP colors four years ago in Sydney, Australia.

"I want to go out with a bang," said the former Xavier School splasher, who hinted that this "might be my last Olympics. I might have to start working once I finish school and leave swimming behind."

Mendoza’s national record is 15 minutes 46 seconds. "I think I have a good chance of surpassing it," he said. "I feel better, I’m well-rested and I’m in better shape than I was four years ago."

Mendoza won the 1,500 freestyle gold and shared in the 4x200 freestyle team gold in the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam last December. He also took a silver in the 400 freestyle, where he clocked a respectable time of 4:01.99 when he swam it last Saturday as a warm up for his 1500 performance.

The 5-foot-7 tanker also holds the national record of 3:40.59 in the 400 freestyle.

So far, only Miguel Molina and Fil-American Jaclyn Pangilinan had managed to better national swimming marks. But both had already completed their assignments here.

Molina covered the 200 breaststroke in 2:19.19 to erase the 12-year-old standard of 2:20.37 held by Lee Concepcion.

Pangilinan timed 1:12.47 and 2:33.38 in the 100 and 200 breaststroke to wipe out her 1:12.82 and 2:35.01 national records, respectively. The 18-year-old Fil-American from New Jersey also topped her personal best of 2:34 in the 200.

The two other RP swimmers who had finished their events here–Raphael "Timmy" Chua and James Bernard Walsh both submitted mediocre times.

Chua clocked 1:06.37 in the 100 breaststroke, way off his personal best of 1:04.93, while Walsh timed 2:06.76, also below his best of 2:04.13.

Except for Chua, all swimmers are training in the US under different American coaches. Pangilinan’s and Walsh’s mentors both came to watch them swim here.