5 things to know about swimmer Joseph Schooling, Singapore’s first Olympic gold champion
Schooling isn’t the first Olympian in his family; his great-uncle Lloyd Valberg was a high jumper at the 1948 games in London
Joseph Isaac Schooling was 13 when he met his idol, Michael Phelps, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Little did he know that he would be competing against the most decorated Olympian of all time in a few years. “Singapore’s flying fish” upstaged the American in the 100 metre butterfly final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio to claim the gold medal, the first Singaporean swimmer to do so. Here are five things to know about Schooling.
1. He won the Sportsman of the Year Award in Singapore
The Olympic gold medal wasn’t Schooling’s first award. Back in 2012, he was named Sportsman of the Year by the Singapore Sports Awards, but he had to sit a maths exam at Florida’s Bolles School so he could not attend the awards. Schooling left his native Singapore to attend the prestigious Florida school to improve his swimming, and he was equally focused on his studies.
2. He is a millionaire student
After his gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, the endorsements rolled in. Schooling might be a millionaire now, but he still attends all his classes at the University of Texas, where he also trains. He also sports a tattoo of a longhorn steer on his back. Underneath the longhorn, the university’s mascot, are the words “COME AND TAKE IT”. (He had to convince his parents to let him get the tattoo.)
3. He deferred national service