"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.