Joseph Schooling

Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean former professional swimmer who specialised in butterfly, freestyle, and medley events. 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 50.39s broke multiple records at the National, Southeast Asian, Asian, and Olympic levels.

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 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.

On 2 April 2024, he announced his retirement from competitive swimming to focus on his swim school and other business ventures.

Early life and family

Schooling was born and raised in Singapore, being a fourth-generation Singaporean. He is the only child of May and Colin Schooling, and has Eurasian ancestry through his father. May was previously from Perak and had moved to Singapore to become a permanent resident, having also played professionally 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 was Lloyd Valberg, who took part in the 1948 Summer Olympics as Singapore's first Olympian. He was the one who inspired Schooling to participate in the Olympic Games. Schooling's great-grandfather was a British military officer who married a Portuguese-Eurasian in Singapore.