Jessica Mendoza is a member of the United States softball team, which won the Silver Medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
The journey to the 2008 Olympic Games began for Mendoza in September 2007 when she was officially named to the Olympic roster for 2008. Immediate Olympic preparation began in February on the team’s 60-game KFC Bound 4 Beijing U.S. Tour. Throughout this pre-Olympic tour Mendoza had a stunning batting average of .495, with 102 hits, 107 runs batted in, and 21 home runs. During the tour, the team played in more than 45 cities for crowds of 200,000 or more people, setting a new tour record.
Playing on the United States team, Mendoza was selected to bat third. As Olympic coach Mike Candrea emphasized, “To hit third in our order is quite an honor. She (Mendoza) has the quickest hands of anyone I’ve seen. She’s stronger, she’s gotten quicker, and she’s gotten smarter.” Mendoza used her strength, speed, and knowledge to help lead her team to the Silver Medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, with batting an average of .333 in 24 at bats, including four home runs. In the overall Olympic statistics, she was in a three-way tie for first in stolen bases, ranked second in runs, and third in runs batted in.
Mendoza won a Gold Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and has also represented the United States as an Athlete Ambassador for Team Darfur, helping to create awareness for the ongoing crisis in this region of Sudan. She has raised $15,000 for children in Africa by joining on as an ambassador for Right to Play during the Olympic Games in Beijing. Also, she served as one of five Olympians to participate in the United States Army’s Goodwill Tour of Afghanistan.
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