Cover For Joseph Schooling, swimming will always be his refuge
For Joseph Schooling, swimming will always be his refuge
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Post‑retirement, Singapore’s sole Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling shares reflections on his sporting career, navigating life after swimming, and how his winning mentality endures even outside the pool
He is Singapore’s first and only Olympic gold medallist, and when we ask Joseph Schooling about the one proudest moment that not many know about, “I’d say it’s the 2011 Southeast Asian (Sea) Games men’s 200‑metre butterfly”, he says. The then 16‑year‑old had clinched the gold medal in the event and it was the ticket that booked his spot at the London 2012 Olympics—his first Olympics.
“At the halfway mark, I was thinking and feeling it internally, ‘This hurts so much’. But I shut my brain off and just went for it. No thinking, no hesitation,” he shares with Tatler Singapore via email. “And that’s what everyone saw, the ticket to the Olympics. But they don’t understand or realise the internal battle that I had to fight during that race, and the conscious decision I made to push through my pain boundaries. So that’s one of my proudest moments on a personal level.”
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Above Singapore’s sole Olympic gold medallist has been a Boss ambassador since 2018
Singapore’s sole Olympic gold medallist has been a Boss ambassador since 2018
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It was the turning point in his quest for Olympic glory. Nearly five years later, at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Schooling made the nation proud when he delivered Singapore’s first‑ever Olympic gold in the men’s 100‑metre butterfly with a record time of 50.39 seconds. He not only beat American defending champion Michael Phelps, but also Hungarian László Cseh, a five‑time Olympic medallist, and South African defending world champion Chad le Clos. All three had clocked 51.14 seconds and tied for silver.
Throughout his sporting journey, Schooling has inspired others to chase their dreams, no matter the odds—and eight years after his monumental feat, the time has come for him to pursue his next one. On April 2 this year, the 28‑year‑old swimmer announced his retirement from competitive swimming on social media. He wrote: “I am filled with gratitude for every experience that swimming has brought into my life. The victories were exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and together, they have forged a resilience in me that I will carry forward into my next chapter.
In this new phase, “the personal goal I’ve set myself is to climb to another mountain top; to be more specific, to create a multimillion‑dollar fund, forge partnerships and impact society in a positive way”, he tells us. “Legacy is important. How do you hoist the person next to you, and also just be happy in life.”
When it comes to his new ventures and projects, Schooling’s focus is in two areas: finance and sports. On the finance side, in the venture capital space “we’re investing in tech health, wellness and sustainability, and a few other projects in the sports realm”, he reveals. According to The Business Times, Schooling is a founding partner at Swaen Schooling Capital—which looks at early‑stage investments—along with investment banker Cliff Go and serial entrepreneur Ben Ling.
And then there is Sports Schooling, his swim school that teaches kids how to swim through more meaningful methods and more impactful ways. “The values of Sports Schooling are determination, happiness and also confidence,” he shares. “Humility will come when you face the next tall task or hard challenge and realise that you haven’t got it all figured out, as you might have once thought or felt. It’s that never‑ending humbling cycle that keeps us grounded—as long as we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves, and stay the path to keep getting better.”
Developed through his years in competitive sports, it is a mindset that Schooling says he would like “to impart on not only [his] students, but whoever has high ambitions or wants to get the best out of themselves. Stay the path and practise humility. It’ll teach you more than any book, podcast or TV show ever will.”
Having grit and determination helped him approach the challenges he faced during his swimming career, from the struggles of national service to his admission to cannabis use overseas. These qualities, he shares, gave him “the resilience to deal with not only the highs, but more so the lows. And to be able to pivot, be flexible and continually adjust to my landscape, which will help everything in my new career.”
For Schooling, sports will always be a part of his life. “Swimming will always be my refuge,” he says, “but it’s nice to be able to venture out and experience new sports, or take other sports more seriously than I could have.” And a peek through his Instagram feed tells us what he has been up to in recent months. “I’ve been golfing since I was a kid, but there are other sports that I have a lot of fun doing, such as padel (a tennis‑squash hybrid racket sport),” he shares.
“Biking for the T100 [Triathlon World Tour] was a nice new challenge,” he adds. “I wouldn’t call myself a recreational athlete [though]; I’d say it’s a serious hobby. Yes, we try to keep things light, but at the same time, as professional athletes, we’re all very competitive deep down and we want to win. We want to win all the time.”
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As Senior Editor of Tatler Singapore, Hashirin champions and refines the storytelling across platforms—curating and crafting compelling profiles, cover stories and features that spotlight visionaries shaping culture, business and impact. Driven by curiosity, she draws inspiration from the artists, changemakers and trailblazers she encounters through her work. Beyond the pages of Tatler, she is an avid supporter of local theatre and delights in seeking out art in every city she visits.
