In 2017, Singapore Botanic Gardens presented an orchid to Schooling in recognition of his achievements at the Olympic Games. Named after Schooling, the Dendrobium Joseph Schooling is a free-flowering hybrid with beautiful yellow and slightly twisted petals.

Before Schooling’s win at the 2016 Olympic Games, Schooling had also beat Phelps at the 2016 Longhorns Elite Invite meet in Austin, Texas, where they competed in the men’s 100m butterfly event. During the event, Schooling had clocked in at 51.58 seconds, ahead of Phelps who clocked in at 51.65 seconds. 

While many Singaporean boys would serve National Service (NS) when they turn 18, Schooling enlisted at the age of 26 after a long-term deferment to train and compete internationally. He had undergone Basic Military Training and continued his service in the Navy. During his time in NS, he was also allowed short-term disruptions for him to train and compete.

When Schooling beat the famous Michael Phelps in the 2016 Rio Olympics and took home the Olympic gold medal, he was also awarded S$1 million. The reward for winning a gold medal at the Olympic gold is S$1 million under the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme. While student-athletes are not allowed to accept prize money according to rules by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, it does not apply to foreign athletes such as Schooling.

Since his big win, Schooling has also received many endorsements and commercial deals with huge brands such as Boss and Tag Heuer.

While Schooling is certainly the first Singaporean to win an Olympic gold medal, he is not actually the first in his family to compete in the prestigious competition. In fact, Schooling's great-uncle, Lloyd Valberg, was an Olympic high jumper in the 1948 games which took place in London. This was the same city where Schooling later made his Olympic debut. 

Valberg was Singapore’s first high jumper to make the Olympics as well, which was a source of extreme pride to our small nation. 

While he has said that he tries to stay away from fried food and fattening salad dressings, he does have his favourite guilty pleasures such as black carrot cake, Burger King or McDonald’s. He also said in the past that he loves to request extra lard when he orders mee pok. 

NOW READ

Joseph Schooling enlists for national service: here are the athletes who were allowed to defer NS in Singapore

8 inspiring quotes from Joseph Schooling to get you into the champion mindset

Singaporeans and fans show support for Joseph Schooling after his Olympic loss