FOR THE RECORD: 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m butterfly); 2017 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (100m butterfly); 2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (100m butterfly); 2018 ASIAN GAMES: gold (50m butterfly, 100m butterfly), bronze (4x100m free relay, 4x200m freestyle relay); 2014 ASIAN GAMES: gold (100m butterfly), silver (50m butterfly), bronze (200m butterfly); 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: silver (100m butterfly); 2017 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x50yd freestyle relay, 4x100yd freestyle relay, 4x100yd medley relay, 4x50yd medley relay), silver (100yd butterfly), bronze (50yd freestyle); 2016 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100yd butterfly, 200yd butterfly, 4x50yd freestyle relay, 4×200 yd freestyle relay, 4x100yd medley relay), silver (4x100yd freestyle relay), bronze (4x50yd medley relay); 2015 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100yd butterfly, 200yd butterfly, 4x100yd medley relay), bronze (4x50yd medley relay); SINGAPOREAN OF THE YEAR (2016); The Straits Time TWO-TIME ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (2014, 2016); SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019); SWIMSWAM MAGAZINE’S NUMBER FOUR PERFORMANCE OF 2016 (his Olympic gold medal swim); PINGAT JASA GEMILANG, the Meritorious Service Medal.
This little boy was walking at nine months and began swimming lessons before he was one. When he competed in his first swimming race at the age of four, he demonstrated a unique athletic talent in the pool. His love for the water drove him early on, and he also hated to lose.
After watching Michael Phelps win six gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Joseph Schooling found a role model and began dreaming of being an Olympic champion, an ambition that was fueled by his athletic parents and a great-uncle who had participated for Singapore in the 1948 London Olympic Games.
In 2008 when he was 13 years old, he met his idol who was passing through Singapore on his way to Olympic glory in Beijing. It was during this visit that Joseph convinced his parents to send him to train in the USA at the Bolles School, an elite preparatory and boarding school in Jacksonville, under coach Sergio Lopez Miro. After a difficult and lonely first year away from his friends and family, his parents bought a house nearby to live close to their only child. They would take turns going back and forth between Jacksonville and Singapore every few months while also running a business. It was a strain on their business and lives, but they did it so their son could have a shot at his dream.
As a sixteen-year-old, Schooling made his international debut at the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. He dropped two seconds from his best time to win the 200m butterfly and qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. He arrived in London with high expectations, but he became very nervous and failed to advance to the semifinals.
Following high school, Schooling joined the high-powered program at the University of Texas, where he trained under Hall of Fame coach Eddie Reese. His NCAA career yielded multiple national titles and records, which were complemented by a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and a bronze medal at the 2015 FINA World Championships in the 100m butterfly.
However, it was the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro which produced his greatest performance. Through the preliminaries and semifinals, Schooling established himself as one of the favorites, and in the final he dominated, winning the title in an Olympic-record time of 50.39, three quarters of a second ahead of his idol, Phelps, Laszlo Cseh, and Chad le Clos who shared the silver medal in a historic, three-way tie at 51.14.
His victory, the first for his country regardless of sport at the Olympic Games, serves as a powerful message, especially for athletes from smaller nations, that seemingly insurmountable goals, like beating a legendary figure like Michael Phelps, are achievable if you are willing to believe in yourself and make a commitment to the hard work and sacrifices that will make your dreams come true. He is a role model not just for his competitive career, but by his example after his retirement from competitive swimming, through Sports Schooling, a business committed to Raising Active, Confident and Growth Minded Children Through Sports, and his role as co-founder and principal in the investment firm of Swaen Schooling Capital.
“Nothing is impossible if you dare to dream.”