Six years back on this day, 21-year-old swimmer Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first gold medal since it joined the Olympic fold in 1948.
File photo of Joseph Schooling. Image: AFP
This day, 12 August, marks a significant day in Singapore’s Olympic history. Six years back on this day, Joseph Schooling, a 21-year-old swimmer, won the first Olympic gold for the nation since the Asian nation joined the Olympic fold in 1948. He beat the big names like American great Michael Phelps, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in the 100 metres Butterfly Final of the 2016 Rio Olympics and shot to superstar status in just one performance.
He also became the second man from Singapore to win an Olympic medal after weightlifter Tan Howe Liang’s silver in 1960.
Apart from bagging the gold medal, the young man set a new Olympic record by completing the task in 50.39 seconds. With the swim, Schooling also beat his childhood hero Phelps’ record of 50.58 seconds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In an astonishing three-way dead-heat for the silver, Phelps, Le Clos and Cseh all finished in 51.14 seconds to share the second spot. After the event, Phelps said he was quite excited to see how much faster Schooling could develop himself.
Schooling has Olympic blood running in his veins. He got inspiration to aim for the Olympics at six years old from his granduncle Lloyd Valberg who was a National high jumper and also the first-ever Olympian from Singapore in 1948. He left home at 13 and moved to Florida, United States to train under the guidance of world-class coach Sergio Lopez. He won the 200 metres Butterfly in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games and qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. However, he had to return from the semi-final stage.
After his successful appearance at the Rio Olympics, many expected Schooling to shine at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Unfortunately, he didn’t. The Singaporean participated in the 100 metres Butterfly and 100 metres Freestyle but failed to even make his way to the semi-finals in both events.
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