1. THE DATES

Schooling has qualified for the 100m freestyle, the 100m butterfly and the 200m butterfly in Rio.

The dates of the events are as follows:

* 200m butterfly heats and final: Aug 9 and Aug 10

* 100m freestyle heats and final: Aug 10 and Aug 11

* 100m butterfly heats and final: Aug 11 and Aug 12

It looks like Schooling and his coaches — Sergio Lopez and Eddie Reese — have decided to conserve his energy and keep him fresh for the shorter sprint events.

2. HIS 200M TIMES

Schooling’s 200m fly time of 1min 55.73sec is a national record and he clocked it at last year’s SEA Games en route to winning gold. But even though it puts him at joint-16th on the FINA world rankings, it is still a good three seconds behind the world’s top three — Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh (1:52.91); Michael Phelps (1:52.94) and South Africa’s Chad Le Clos (1:53.48).

At last year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia, he qualified for the semi-finals in 13th spot, but failed to make it into the final.

3. HIS 100M FREESTYLE TIME

Schooling set a new national record of 48.58sec in the 100m free at last year’s SEA Games. Although that puts him at 40th on the FINA rankings, it still puts him within striking distance of the world’s top 16. At 16th spot is Pieter Timmers of Belgium at 48.22sec while the top three spots are taken by Australia’s Cameron McEvoy (47.04), American Nathan Adrian (47.72) and Ning Zetao of China (47.96). In other words, his chances of reaching the 100m free final are strong.

That is also precisely what Singapore national head coach Sergio Lopez said: “Joseph will be swimming the 100m Freestyle event instead where we believe he has a very good chance to be in the final.”

4. CONFIDENCE BOOST

A good performance in the 100m free will also give Schooling a good boost going into his pet event the next day — the 100m fly.

The 100m free final is on Aug 11 while the 100m butterfly heats and final are on Aug 11 and Aug 12 respectively. If Schooling makes the 100m freestyle final and clocks a good result, it will keep him buzzing for the 100m butterfly final the next day.

5. HIS 100M BUTTERFLY TIME

This is Schooling’s pet event and he showcased his world-class credentials in it by finishing third at last year’s World Championships, and even by beating Michael Phelps at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invitational in June. His season’s best time of 51.58sec currently puts him at 13th in the world rankings, but the 50.96sec national record that he set at last year’s SEA Games puts him at No 2, between Cseh (50.86) and Phelps (51.60).

Keeping Schooling fresh by dropping the 200m fly and using the 100m free as a platform to boost his confidence could well be the razor-thin difference between winning Singapore’s first-ever swimming medal and missing out.