Singapore's swimmer Joseph Schooling won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.(Photo: VNA) Singapore (VNA) – After enduring a challenging year, Olympicswimming gold medalist Joseph Schooling is aiming to win a gold medal at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) which takes place in Vietnam in May.
2021 is a difficult year in both his career and personal life for 27-year-old Schooling. He wasunable to defend his Olympic title in the 100m butterfly event and finished at 44th overall. The defeat put him under greatpressure from fans and media in the country.
Later in the year, his father died at theage of 73 after undergoing treatment for cancer. His parents playeda key role in Schooling’s rise to swimming stardom, which culminated in theirson’s gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I think it takes years or maybe you go onyour whole life feeling like something's amiss. And that's just an indicationof (the fact that) you really cared for him, you really loved him,” he told Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Fortunately, it was his father’s "Colinisms" - things he would say about life – aresomething Schooling holds on to. He gradually thought more positively, lookingto the future instead of drowning in pain and the past..
He enlisted for National Service in Januarythis year. After completing his service in March, he competed at the 52nd Singapore National Age GroupSwimming Championships (SNAG) Major Games Qualifier. There, he clocked 52.09seconds in the 100m butterfly finals, his best time in more than two years. Thismeant that he met the "A" cuts for the Asian Games andCommonwealth Games which will be held later this year.
Despitehaving competed at the highest level, the SEA Games still hold much meaningfor Schooling.
Schooling rose to fame at the 26th SEA Games held in Indonesia in 2011 where he won two gold medals. Schoolingis one of the most talented athletes in the history of the SEA Games, grabbing31 medals, including 27 gold medals across five Games.
"SEA Games is something that Igrew up with being like the creme de la creme. Of course, the Olympics isthe apex. But SEA Games was always something that hit close to home,” Schoolingwas quoted by CNA as saying.
"I may have taken the SEA Games forgranted maybe two or three times. But towards the end of your career, youlook back and you see how important these kinds of Games are. Every single meetyou have an opportunity to step up at is an important Games ... At the endof the day, it's you're wearing a flag, so no matter what kind of level,you better represent it at the highest," he said./.
