20 fun facts about Joseph Schooling you need to know!

FACT #1

1/20

Schooling was born in 1995, making him just 21 years old when he won his (and Singapore’s) first Olympic gold medal.

Image: The Straits Times

FACT #2

2/20

Compared to the average height of Singaporean men, Schooling is considered tall at 184cm.

Image: Singapore Sea Games Organising Committee / Action Images / Reuters

FACT #3

3/20

However, he’s an adorable “runt” compared to fellow swimmers at the Olympics, with Phelps standing at a dizzying 193cm, Chad le Clos at 186cm and Laszlo Cseh at 188cm.

Image: Kevin Lim

FACT #4

4/20

His mum is from Ipoh, Malaysia.

Image: ST File

FACT #5

5/20

His favourite food is carrot cake: “The blacker, the better”.

Image: The New Paper

FACT #6

6/20

He stays in Marine Parade.

Image: Lianhe Wanbao

FACT #7

7/20

At the age of 14, he moved to the The Bolles School in Florida to hone his swimming skills.

Image: Kevin Lim

FACT #8

8/20

He was the youngest recipient of the Sportsman of the Year award in 2012, but he couldn’t attend the prize presentation because he was held up in a mathematics examination at The Bolles School.

Image: ST File

FACT #9

9/20

Before moving to Florida, his alma mater in Singapore was Anglo-Chinese School.

Image: Mark Cheong

FACT #10

10/20

Right now, Schooling is well, schooling at the University of Texas at Austin.

Image: Kevin Lim

FACT #11

11/20

He loves playing both virtual and real football. His favourite football club is Chelsea and he also enjoys playing the Fifa series of computer games.

Image: ST File

FACT #12

12/20

To prepare for the Rio Olympic Games, Schooling decided against watching popular drama series Game of Thrones to keep his focus squarely on his professional goals. Talk about self-discipline!

Image: The Straits Times

FACT #13

13/20

This is how his breakfast usually look like.

Image: The Straits Times

FACT #14

14/20

Schooling is actually Olympian royalty – his grand uncle, Lloyd Valberg was Singapore’s first ever Olympian! Valberg represented the country in the high jump event at the 1948 Games in London.

Image: Family of Joseph Schooling

FACT #15

15/20

At one point after his seminal win this year, Schooling was 10 times more searched than Phelps!

Image: Reuters

FACT #16

16/20

The Rio Olympics is not the first time Schooling “schooled” Phelps. Earlier in June this year, he beat Phelps at the 100m butterfly final at the Longhorn Elite Invite Meet in Austin, Texas.

Image: Kevin Lim

FACT #17

17/20

Phelps is also not the first gold medalist swimmer Schooling beat – in 2013, he beat six-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte to win the 100m butterfly (long course) final at the Speedo South Sectional Championships in Florida.

Image: Kevin Lim

FACT #18

18/20

Schooling’s hardest training set was when he was still in primary school, where he had to do 30 sets of 100 fly, but managed to do only 20: “That was the hardest (set) I’ve done and I failed miserably.”

Image: Mark Cheong

FACT #19

19/20

#QOTD: “I fail more than I succeed” – Joseph Schooling

Image: The Straits Times

FACT #20

20/20

His National Service has been deferred to after the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo. (Now we know who to look out for at the next Olympics!)

Image: Shin Min Daily News