Schooling gets his 6th gold for 2013 SEA Games

SINGAPORE — Even though he was the top-performing swimmer at last year’s South-east Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar, teen swimmer Joseph Schooling was not able to achieve his mission of a perfect six-gold haul from all his six events when in Naypyidaw.

But yesterday, the United States-based swimmer belatedly achieved his medal target when world swimming governing body FINA banned two Indonesian swimmers — Indra Gunawan and Guntur Pratama — from competitive swimming for two years and stripped them of all their results from July 1 last year after they tested positive for the prohibited stimulant methylhexamine during last July’s Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG).

Indra was in the 4x100m medley relay team that beat Singapore to the gold. Schooling was part of the Republic’s relay squad, along with Quah Zheng Wen, Clement Lim, and Christopher Cheong.

Guntur also took part in the SEA Games but did not win any medal.

The belated gold means that Schooling will join ex-national swimmers David Lim (1985 SEA Games), Thuan Heng (1967) and Alex Chan (1969) as the only four Singaporeans to have achieved the six-gold feat in swimming at the regional Games.

When contacted, Schooling, who woke up in the morning to the news from TODAY, said: “I am happy to have reached my target. I did not think I would reach it this way, but nonetheless it is a pleasant surprise.

“When my team got silver in Myanmar, I was disappointed, even as I know we gave it our best shot … Now I am pleased, even though winning the gold this way, four months after the SEA Games, does take away the glory from actually going onto the top step of the podium to receive it then.”

However, the Indonesian Swimming Federation plans to appeal the decision as Lembaga-Anti-Doping Indonesia, or LADI, had imposed a three-month ban on Indra and Guntur starting Aug 13, making him eligible for the SEA Games in December.

“We are all shocked and disappointed by FINA’s decision. Indra and Guntur were suspended for three months and now, this. The Indonesia Swimming Federation will appeal against the swimmers’ two-year ban, which is harsh,” said Indonesia swimming head coach Albert Sutanto.

He noted that his swimmers had inadvertently consumed the stimulant as they had not known that the energy drink they had consumed in their hotel in Incheon during the AIMAG contained the illegal substance.

“This will affect our medal chances for our next SEA Games in 2015 in Singapore. We definitely need both of them there.” ADELENE WONG