Joseph Schooling

Joseph Schooling is a Singaporean competitive swimmer. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, 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.

An alumnus of the Anglo-Chinese School, he subsequently 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 programs 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.

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.

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).