Schooling focused on world domination

SINGAPORE — He was the swimmer who put Singapore on the world map at the Olympic Games, the young upstart who denied American legend Michael Phelps his 24th gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.

And Joseph Schooling is now gunning for world domination, as he takes aim at Phelps’ world record of 49.82sec in the 100m butterfly while targeting more medals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Some eyebrows were raised when Schooling made his daring claim, as Phelps’ 2009 record was achieved in the era of the full-body polyurethane super swimsuits that enabled swimmers to shave more seconds off their times, and break many world records. They were subsequently banned by world swimming body Fina.

But Schooling is not one to back down from a seemingly impossible challenge, as he told TODAY: “Some people think it’s unachievable, going 49.8 without a super suit, but I think after this Olympics, it opened up a lot of eyes. I definitely want to break the world record, that’ll be sick.”

He aims to do so at the Fina World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in July. And to his rivals, especially Le Clos, who is eyeing a rematch, Schooling has this message: I will prevail.

“I’m a huge guy on winning when it matters,” he said. “You might be able to beat me in season, but at the end of the day I win when it matters.

“I’m very competitive, I don’t like to lose. I’ll do whatever it takes to win, if that’s going out hard and holding on for dear life just to break the race and feel pain that no normal person will want to feel. I’ll do it. The hardest part is outside the pool, commitments, keeping my mind focused, being dialed in, keeping myself in check.”

Apart from the world championships, the 2017 season will be yet another busy one for the University of Texas undergraduate.

After stealing the show at this year’s 2016 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) meet by winning five individual and relay gold medals and helping Texas win its second NCAA title on the trot, Schooling is now in training to lead Texas to a hattrick next year. He will also feature in the SEA Games in Malaysia, and could expand his repertoire of events to include the 100m and 200m freestyle, and 200m individual medley.

Outside of the pool, Schooling is slowly adjusting to his new public life as the Republic’s golden boy, and he was mobbed everywhere he went during a visit back home last week for a series of book signings, charity and public events.

Oozing easy charm and a radiant smile throughout the week, Schooling insisted he is still the same boy from Marine Parade who grew up worshipping Phelps.

“It (winning gold) doesn’t feel any different ... I’m not too hung up about what happened two or three months ago. It is a nice feeling but I’m ready to start working again, getting back into the pool,” he said.

“I don’t think of myself as special, period. I just think of myself as a normal kid that has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do special things. That’s all I think about, try to do my best, set new benchmarks and targets.”

But the best moment of winning gold, he admitted, was seeing the joy on his parents’ faces.

While his mum May was in the stands to witness his gold-medal moment, Colin had stayed home to watch it with friends and family.

“Just looking at my dad’s face (from the video) when he was watching my race at (Teo) Zhen Ren’s house.

“My dad’s super old school, like hard on the outside and soft as hell on the inside. His reaction kind of says it all, and that means more to me than what I feel about myself.”

Even as Schooling turns his focus back to school and swimming, it is not all work and no play for the college student. Female fans will also be delighted to hear that the swimmer is currently single. But they will need to pass the “mum test” first.

He laughed: “She’s got to have a good heart, and I have to find her attractive. A lot of crazy girls that my mum told me were crazy ... it turned out every single one of them was nuts.

“All those guys out there reading this, mum’s always right, don’t learn the hard way!”