Joseph Schooling

Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean swimmer. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympiad, achieving Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medal. His winning time of 50.39 seconds broke multiple records at National, Southeast Asian, Asian and Olympic level.
He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Texas Longhorns swimming team, one of the top collegiate swim programmes under two-time United States Olympic men's head coach Eddie Reese. He first qualified for the Olympics in 2012 after winning the 200m butterfly at the 2011 SEA Games.
Personal life and family.
Joseph Schooling was born and raised in Singapore, being a fourth-generation Singaporean. Joseph Schooling is the only child of May and Colin Schooling, and is of Eurasian ethnicity. May is a Malaysian and a Singapore Permanent Resident who had represented the Malaysian state of Perak in tennis; while Colin, a businessman born in Singapore and educated at Raffles Institution, was a hurdler and water polo player who represented Singapore in softball. His grand-uncle, Lloyd Valberg, was Singapore's first Olympian in the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was the one who inspired Schooling to participate in the Olympics. Schooling's great grandfather was a British military officer who married a Portuguese-Eurasian in Singapore.
Schooling's early years of education were spent at the Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) in Singapore. He next attended Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), but left for the United States in 2009 when he was 13 years old to attend Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2010, Schooling started training under Sergio Lopez Miro, who later on in 2015 would become Singapore's national head coach. In 2014, after completing high school, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin.
In August 2016, Schooling had his National Service deferred until after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Armed Forces Council had approved Schooling's request to extend his deferment, as he had been exemplary in fulfilling the “raison d’etre” for his deferment from 2013 to the 2016 Olympics.
In October 2016, Schooling received the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) for his exceptional achievements at the Rio Olympics 2016 by winning Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medal in the men's 100m butterfly.
On 7 August 2017, an Orchid was named after Schooling; "Dendrobium Joseph Schooling" is a "vigorous and free flowering" hybrid with yellow and slightly twisted petals.
On 27 June 2018, Schooling launched his swimming school called Swim Schooling. The school is managed by his mother, May Schooling.
In 2020, Schooling and fellow national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen applied to further extend their National Service deferment, given the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the COVID-19 situation.
Collegiate career.
2015 NCAA.
Schooling won two individual titles (100 & 200-yard butterfly) at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. His other title came from the 400-yard medley relay. He teamed up with Kip Darmody, Will Licon and Jack Conger to break the NCAA and US Open records. In the 200-yard medley relay, he was a member of the Texas team that finished third. Schooling also swam in the 200-yard medley consolation final (finishing first) and the 400-yard freestyle relay where Texas finished fourth.
Texas won the National Championships with 528 points. It was the Longhorns' eleventh overall men's team title.
2016 NCAA.
Schooling successfully defended his butterfly titles, setting both NCAA and US open records of 44.01 in the 100-yard butterfly and 1:37.97 in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. He also won golds as a member of the 200 and 800-yard freestyle relays and the 400-yard medley relay. His silver came from the 400-yard freestyle relay and bronze from the 200-yard medley relay.
Texas won the National Championships with 541 points. It was the Longhorns' second consecutive and twelfth overall men's team title.
2017 NCAA.
Schooling obtained four gold medals, a silver and a bronze medal at the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. His gold medals came from the 200 and 400-yard medley relays and the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. Texas set new NCAA and US open records in all of the relays he was involved except for the 200-yard medley relay.
Schooling started off his individual campaign with a bronze in the 50-yard freestyle in 18.79 behind Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Held. He was unable to defend his butterfly titles, finishing behind Dressel in the 100-yard butterfly in 43.75 (2nd man fastest all-time). In the 200-yard butterfly, he failed to make the finals, finishing 37th overall.
Texas won the National Championships with 542 points. It was the Longhorns' third consecutive and thirteenth overall men's team title.
2018 NCAA.
A closely contested meet saw Texas, California, Indiana and NC state fighting for the Championship title till the last day. Texas won the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships with 449 points, edging out California. It was the Longhorns' fourth consecutive and fourteenth overall men's team title.
Schooling ended his collegiate career at the University of Texas with 12 NCAA titles (4 individuals & 8 relays).
International career.
In the early part of his career, Schooling was trained by coaches and swimmers of Australia under the monitoring of Monash University in a Singapore Sports Council programme.
At the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, Schooling's 1:56.67 winning time in the 200 fly met the "A" qualifying mark for the 2012 London Olympics. Unfortunately, he did not qualify for the semi-finals after finishing poorly in his heats where swimming officials disallowed the use of his swimming cap and goggles, causing him to have to search for new ones just minutes before the competition, affecting his state of mind.
Schooling is the first Singaporean to win a swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games, taking silver in the 100 m butterfly at the 2014 games in Glasgow.
2014 Asian Games.
Schooling's major breakthrough finally came during the Asian Games, where he clocked 51.76 seconds in the 100 m butterfly finals. Schooling's timing of 51.76 seconds was a new Asian Games record. It was Singapore's first Asian Games gold in the men's category since 1982. Schooling had earlier won a bronze for the 200 m butterfly event, ending a 24-year medal drought for Singapore's male swimming event. He followed that by winning a silver in the 50 m butterfly event.
2015 SEA Games.
At the 2015 SEA Games held in Singapore, Schooling took part in nine events, achieving gold and breaking Games records in all of them. Schooling's time of 22.47 seconds in the 50 m freestyle broke a 33-year national record (22.69 s) that was held by Ang Peng Siong, who had set it at the 1982 U.S. Swimming Championships.
2015 FINA World Championships.
Schooling continued with his streak of achievements in the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. He advanced to the 50 m and 100 m butterfly finals, breaking the National Records for both events. In the 50 m butterfly event, he broke the Asian Record in the semi-finals before breaking it again in the finals with a time of 23.25 seconds, while in the 100 m butterfly event, he broke the Asian Record in the finals, with a time of 50.96 seconds. His bronze medal was Singapore's first ever medal at the FINA World Aquatics Championships.
2016 Olympics.
On 12 August 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Schooling won a gold medal in the 100 m butterfly with a time of 50.39 seconds, the first Olympic gold medal won by Singapore. The time set a new Olympic record, beating Phelps' record of 50.58 seconds at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In the semi-finals on 11 August 2016, Schooling swam 50.83 seconds as the fastest qualifier for the final. The time was a personal best, a national record, an Asian record, and the fastest time then-recorded in 2016 for the event, but only for a day as Schooling improved his time in the final.
The Singapore National Olympic Council awarded Schooling S$1 million (about US$740,000) under the Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP), 20% of which had to be ploughed back to the Singapore Swimming Association for future training and development. Singapore's unique "rewards for sports excellence" is deemed to be the world's largest Olympic cash prize. As a University of Texas collegiate swimmer, Schooling was subject to the NCAA's strict rules against college athletes accepting prize money. However, Schooling received his country's award as it fell within the NCAA exception of awards to foreign students.
To mark Schooling's historic gold medal, a victory parade was held in Singapore and it was attended by massive crowds.
Schooling's performance in Rio was listed in swimming magazine Swim Swam's Top 10 Swims Of 2016. He came in at No. 4, after Hungarian Katinka Hosszú (400 IM, Rio Olympics), American Katie Ledecky (800 m freestyle, Rio Olympics), Briton Adam Peaty (100 m breaststroke, Rio Olympics).
2017 FINA World Championships.
Schooling swam 3 events (50 m, 100 m butterfly and 100 m freestyle) in Budapest. He broke his own Asian record twice in the 50 m butterfly heats (23.05 sec) and semi-finals (22.93 sec). He clocked 22.95 sec in the finals to finish 5th. He missed out on 100 m freestyle semi-final after finishing 17th in the heats. In the 100m butterfly finals, Olympic Champion Schooling was the favourite to win the event but Caeleb Dressel was too dominant from the heats to the finals. Dressel clocked 49.86 sec in the final to eclipse Schooling's world textile best time of 50.39 sec, set in Rio Olympics. Caeleb's time was 0.04 sec shy of Michael Phelps supersuit World Record. Schooling obtained a joint-Bronze medal with Briton James Guy with a time of 50.83 sec.
2017 SEA Games.
Schooling swam six events at the 29th SEA Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He won all his events and broke four South-east Asian records (50 m, 100 m butterfly, 4 × 100 m freestyle relay & 4 × 100 m medley relay).
2018 Asian Games.
Schooling participated in 3 individual events (50 m freestyle, 50 m, and 100 m butterfly) and 3 relays (4 × 100 m freestyle, 4 × 200 m freestyle & 4 × 100 m medley). He successfully defended his 100 m butterfly Gold with a new Asian Games record of 51.04 seconds. He later won Singapore's second Gold in the 50 m butterfly. He also contributed to the bronze medal winning relays (4 × 100 m freestyle & 4 × 200 m freestyle) and was 4th in 4 × 100 m medley relay. Both the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays set a new national record.