Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean former professional swimmer who specialised in butterfly, freestyle, and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medal. His winning time of 50.39s broke multiple records at the National, Southeast Asian, Asian, and Olympic levels.
An alumnus of the Anglo-Chinese School, he subsequently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Texas Longhorns swimming team, one of the top collegiate swim programmes under two-time United States Olympic men's head coach Eddie Reese. He first qualified for the Olympics in 2012 after winning the 200m butterfly at the 2011 SEA Games.
On 2 April 2024, he announced his retirement from competitive swimming to focus on his swim school and other business ventures.
Schooling was born and raised in Singapore, being a fourth-generation Singaporean. He is the only child of May and Colin Schooling, and has Eurasian ancestry through his father. May was previously from Perak and had moved to Singapore to become a permanent resident, having also played professionally in tennis; while Colin, a businessman born in Singapore and educated at Raffles Institution, was a hurdler and water polo player who represented Singapore in softball.
His grand-uncle was Lloyd Valberg, who took part in the 1948 Summer Olympics as Singapore's first Olympian. He was the one who inspired Schooling to participate in the Olympic Games. Schooling's great-grandfather was a British military officer who married a Portuguese-Eurasian in Singapore.
Schooling's early years of education were spent at the Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) at Newton. He next attended Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) at Dover, before attending the Bolles School in 2009 at Jacksonville, Florida, United States. In 2010, Schooling started training under Sergio López Miró, who later on in 2015 would become Singapore's national head coach. In 2014, after completing high school, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin where he swam for Hall of Fame Coaches Eddie Reese and Associate Coach Kris Kubik.
Colin Schooling died on 18 November 2021, aged 73. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer since June of that year.
Schooling won two individual titles (100 & 200-yard butterfly) at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. His other title came from the 400-yard medley relay. He teamed up with Kip Darmody, Will Licon, and Jack Conger to break the NCAA and US Open records. In the 200-yard medley relay, he was a member of the Texas team that finished third. Schooling also swam in the 200-yard medley consolation final (finishing first) and the 400-yard freestyle relay where Texas finished fourth.
Schooling successfully defended his butterfly titles, setting both NCAA and US open records of 44.01 in the 100-yard butterfly and 1:37.97 in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. He also won golds as a member of the 200 and 800-yard freestyle relays and the 400-yard medley relay. His silver came from the 400-yard freestyle relay and bronze from the 200-yard medley relay.
Schooling obtained four gold medals, a silver, and a bronze medal at the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. His gold medals came from the 200 and 400-yard medley relays and the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. Texas set new NCAA and US open records in all of the relays he was involved except for the 200-yard medley relay.
Schooling started off his individual campaign with a bronze in the 50-yard freestyle in 18.79 behind Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Held. He was unable to defend his butterfly titles, finishing behind Dressel in the 100-yard butterfly in 43.75 (2nd man fastest all-time). In the 200-yard butterfly, he failed to make the finals, finishing 37th overall.
Schooling ended his collegiate career at the University of Texas with 12 NCAA titles (4 individuals & 8 relays).
In the early part of his career, Schooling was trained by coaches and swimmers of Australia under the monitoring of Monash University in a Singapore Sports Council programme.
At the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, Schooling's 1:56.67 winning time in the 200 fly met the "A" qualifying mark for the 2012 London Olympics. Unfortunately, he did not qualify for the semi-finals after finishing poorly in his heats where swimming officials disallowed the use of his swimming cap and goggles, causing him to have to search for new ones just minutes before the competition, affecting his state of mind.
Schooling is the first Singaporean to win a swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games, taking silver in the 100 m butterfly at the 2014 games in Glasgow.
Schooling's major breakthrough finally came during the Asian Games, where he clocked 51.76 seconds in the 100 m butterfly finals. Schooling's timing of 51.76 seconds was a new Asian Games record. It was Singapore's first Asian Games gold in the men's category since 1982. Schooling had earlier won a bronze for the 200 m butterfly event, ending a 24-year medal drought for Singapore's male swimming event. He followed that by winning a silver in the 50 m butterfly event.
At the 2015 SEA Games held in Singapore, Schooling took part in nine events, achieving gold and breaking Games records in all of them. Schooling's time of 22.47 seconds in the 50 m freestyle broke a 33-year national record (22.69 s) that was held by Ang Peng Siong, who had set it at the 1982 U.S. Swimming Championships.
Schooling continued with his streak of achievements in the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. He advanced to the 50 m and 100 m butterfly finals, breaking the National Records for both events. In the 50 m butterfly event, he broke the Asian Record in the semi-finals before breaking it again in the finals with a time of 23.25 seconds, while in the 100 m butterfly event, he broke the Asian Record in the finals, with a time of 50.96 seconds. His bronze medal was Singapore's first ever medal at the FINA World Aquatics Championships.