Joseph Schooling’s victory lap has only just begun. Michael Phelps should feel nothing less then proud for being such an inspiration to Joseph Schooling, who idolized him as a kid.
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21-year-old Schooling clocked 50.39 seconds to edge out Phelps in the 100m butterfly contest in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Schooling won the coveted gold medal in the 100 meter butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, which marked the swimmer’s first-ever Olympic gold.
Schooling’s request for another deferment from national military service was approved, the Armed Forces Council said on Monday, paving the way for the young swimmer to train and compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The defeat meant he had one silver medal to go with his five golds in Rio.
Singapore’s president, Tony Tan, also added his voice to the stream of congratulations, proudly noting that Schooling finished almost a full second ahead of three of the world’s best swimmers.
Twenty-year-old Sabrina Salazar posted a couple of screen grabs on Twitter on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), showing a previous flirtatious exchange between her and a guy named “Joseph”.
“I had goosebumps. It’s really nice and I’m glad I had that chance to be here today”. Schooling is studying at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is a member of the Texas Longhorns swimming team. Singapore waited 28 years before winning its next medal, a silver in table tennis at Beijing in 2008.
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Singapore Parliament plans to move a motion to congratulate Joseph Isaac Schooling on his Olympic gold on Monday, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (pix).
