Asian Games: No 5th medal for Schooling, but swimmers lauded for ‘exceptional’ performance

JAKARTA — There was no shiny fifth medal to add to his Asian Games collection, but national swimmer Joseph Schooling was still smiling as he walked out of the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre on Friday night (Aug 24), the final day of the Asiad swimming competition.

That was because the 23-year-old had already collected four medals in Jakarta — two of them gold after he successfully defended his 100m fly title and adding another in the 50m fly.

He also won two bronze medals in the men’s 4x100m and 4X200m freestyle relays this week to close his Asian Games campaign as the most bemedalled Team Singapore athlete of the 2018 Games. He is also set to bank in some S$340,000 from the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme.

The Olympic champion was also one of the fan favourites throughout the six-day swimming meet – alongside Chinese superstar Sun Yang – as fans chanted his name during races. The swimmer happily obliged his supporters on Friday, signing autographs and posing for selfies with fans by the pool.

After qualifying fourth fastest in the morning’s heats, the medley relay team of Quah Zheng Wen, Lionel Khoo, Schooling, and Darren Chua were hoping for a podium finish in the final. But the quartet could only finish fourth after clocking 3min 37.68sec.

China clinched gold in a new Games record time of 3min 29.99sec, while Japan (3min 30.03sec) and Kazakhstan (3min 35.62sec) won the silver and bronze respectively.

Schooling said: “I think the result was pretty solid, we were right on the national record… it would have been nice to stand on that podium one more time with the guys, but sports is pretty cruel that way.

“This gives us something to go back and work harder for. We’ve done so well this meet as a team - two relay medals which was unheard of. I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed of, I don’t think this was a failure, this was a very successful meet.”

However, Schooling, who now has three Asian Games gold medals (2014, 2018) to his name, shrugged off the tag of being Singapore’s most bemedalled athlete at the Asiad.

He added: “I didn’t even know that until you (reporters) told me, I did the best for myself and my team, first and foremost. (It) doesn’t really matter to me at all.”

Instead, Schooling is turning his focus to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where he will be looking to defend his 100m fly crown, while gunning for glory in other events.

It is also where he will finally silence his detractors who had dissed his medal hopes after the swimmer suffered a series of disappointing performances in 2017 and this year.

Not that Schooling is concerned about critics. “There’s always going to be criticism, I’m not too worried about that,” he said. “My job is to just believe in what I do, trust the process and keep working hard, don’t be complacent.

“I feel like this year we’ve picked up a lot of things well, and it bodes well for the next two years leading up to Tokyo.”

‘EXCEPTIONAL’ RESULT

Team Singapore’s 25-strong swimming contingent finished the 2018 Asian Games with a total of six medals – two gold (men’s 50m and 100m fly), a silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke, and three bronze medals (men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, women’s 4x100m medley relay).

Speaking to reporters after the final event of the meet, national swimming head coach and performance director Stephan Widmer called it an “exceptional result for Singapore”.  

“More than half of the team won medals, and that is exceptional. Overall, the swimmers made Singapore really proud. The competition at the Asian Games is tough and will get tougher, and the swimmers did a great job.”

Aside from Schooling, Roanne Ho also won an individual medal – a silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke – at the Games, while Quah, Darren Chua and Jonathan Tan took home two bronze medals in the relays.

Quah, who finished sixth in the 50m backstroke and 200m fly, and fourth in the 100m fly, said: “I had a pretty rocky start to the meet, individually not so great, but stepping out with the guys and going faster in relays and getting on podiums is something we haven’t done before.

“If it weren’t for them (relay teammates), I’ll be having a pretty crappy meet. I’m glad they’ve got my back.”

National training centre head coach Gary Tan and Widmer singled out the relay medals as significant achievements for the Singapore swimmers.

Tan said: “They surpassed our expectations. We were banking on Joseph to deliver, and it was more than Joseph as the relays were fantastic.”

The final day of the Asiad swimming competition saw Japan narrowly edging out rivals China in the medal table with 19 gold, 20 silver and 13 bronze medals (52 total) to China’s 50 medal haul (19-17-14). Singapore finished third with 2-1-3.

While Widmer admitted that there is a gap between Singapore and top swimming nations such as Japan and China, he said that Singapore is “pushing to fill that gap with support staff and international expertise”.

The goal, added Tan, is to qualify swimmers for next year’s Fina World Championships in South Korea, and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

He said: “Whether it is Joseph (Schooling) or the younger swimmers, we are in a very good position now. Definitely the goal for 2020 is to get our relay there, and have more swimmers qualify outright, and hopefully that will be the most successful Olympic Games (when we do that).”

While senior swimmers such as Quah Ting Wen, Amanda Lim, and Ho – Quah is 26, while Lim and Ho are both 25 – said they were considering their futures in the sport after this Asian Games, Tan said it was too early to tell if the trio would be hanging up their goggles and swimsuits.

Quah was in tears after the 50m freestyle final on Friday as she finished sixth in 25.48sec – 0.21sec off her personal best and national record. She told reporters that she had not decided if she would continue swimming as she needed to sit down with her coaches, and “reflect on the meet”.

Widmer said that he did not want the swimmers “to make decisions when they’re feeling emotional”.

Tan added: “We had a couple of discussions. It’s the end of the meet, we’ll just let them enjoy the moment and talk to them the week after this.

“It has been a tough week for all of us, and they have come out better swimmers. I’m very excited to see what will happen in the next two years.”