Joseph Schooling: The road to gold

2006

Curious to know how far their child could go in the sport, the Schoolings send Joseph for a bone age test.

The test, which determines growth potential, revealed that he should hit around 1.9m, an optimum height for top swimmers. He now stands at about 1.85m.

2008

A 13-year-old Schooling sets a personal best in the 200m butterfly which is faster than the US age-group mark by some three seconds. He also gets further inspired by a meeting with idol Michael Phelps when the American great was here to prepare for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

2009

The former Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student joins The Bolles School in the United States.

Still more than two months away from his 14th birthday, Schooling smashes Singapore's oldest junior record - the under-14 200m butterfly - with a time of 2:10.56, almost three seconds faster than Tan V-Meng's mark set in 1987. The youngster also eclipses his own 100m butterfly time by almost a second, clocking 59.4.

He said then: "I'm sacrificing my childhood - my time with friends, but I want to look back after I've reached my goal and be able to say that I made it."

2010

Barely a year since moving to Florida, working with Olympics bronze medalist Sergio Lopez is beginning to bear great fruit as the 1.82m teenager is ranked the fastest in the US for his age in the 100 yards butterfly (short-course).

2011

February

Schooling, 15, is part of a school relay team which shatters America's age-group (15-16) 4x100 yards medley relay record by almost six seconds, but it was not acknowledged as a new national record because he is not a US citizen.

June

Sets three new national records in 100m butterfly (54.19), 200m butterfly (2:00.05), and 200m individual medley (2:05.07) at the National Swimming Championships.

July

At this point, he owns the 50m (24.95) 100m (53.71) and 200m butterfly (1:57.95) national records with timings clocked at the Asean School Games.

November

Schooling, 16, announces his arrival in senior international competition with impressive swims at the SEA Games in Palembang, winning the 200m fly in 1:56.67, a new Games and national record which was also under the London 2012 A qualifying mark.

He also sets new national marks in the 50m fly (24.06), 200m IM (2:04.85) and 100m fly (53.18).

December

At the US Short-Course Junior National Championships, the Singaporean surpasses American superstar Michael Phelps' age-group (15-16 years) time by nine-hundreths of a second in the 100 yards butterfly (short course) by clocking 47.06.

2012

April

Father Colin creates swimming aids for his son and delivers them to Florida. These include the drag chute, which is attached to the swimmer's waist via a cord and builds strength and endurance through resistance. This is also Colin's most elaborate masterpiece since he started customising swimming devices when Joseph was just a young child.

May

Aged 16, he becomes the youngest winner of the Sportsman of the Year award for his exploits in 2011.

July

Making his Olympics debut, Team Singapore youngest member at London 2012 has a rare nightmarish outing as his swim cap and goggles are rejected before the 200m butterfly heat as they fail to meet Olympic regulations.

After scrambling to find replacements, he clocks 1:59.18, and does not make the semis. Schooling also fails to make the semi-final of the 100m fly, with his time of 53.63 some way off his personal best of 53.18.

2013

March

Schooling swims 54.71 to beat 12-time Olympic medalist American Ryan Lochte (55.20) to win the 100m butterfly (long course) final at the Speedo South Sectional Championships in Florida.

July

Schooling misses out on the World Championships 200m butterfly final but his time of 1:56.27 is a new national record. He also becomes the first Singapore swimmer to go below the two-minute barrier in the 200m IM, when he clocks 1:59.99 in Barcelona.

October

Schooling is granted deferment from National Service to allow him to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He also agrees to join the University of Texas at Austin to go under the tutelage of Eddie Reese, the legendary assistant coach of the US men's team at the London Olympics.

December

It becomes clear that Schooling is a big fish in the small Asean pool as he collects six gold medals from the SEA Games in Naypyidaw.

2014

July

Wins Singapore's first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal, a silver behind South African star Chad le Clos in the 100m butterfly with a time of 51.69. Despite finishing seventh in the 50m butterfly final, his 23.43 set in the heats is a new Asian record.

September

Schooling claims the full compliment of medals at the Asiad when he wins silver in the 50m butterfly, bronze in the 200m butterfly and gold in the 100m butterfly to become the first male swimmer to win an Asian Games gold since Ang Peng Siong in 1982.

2015

June

Extending his amazing streak at the SEA Games, Schooling takes gold in all nine events he entered for on home soil, setting new Games records in each of them, including the 50m freestyle (22.47) which was previously held by Ang (22.69) for 33 years.

August

It gets even better for Schooling, who becomes the first Singaporean to medal at the World Championships when he wins bronze in the 100m butterfly with a time of 50.96, a new Asian record. Le Clos wins in 50.56, while Hungarian Laszlo Cseh requires a national record of 50.87 to take silver.

2016

June

He claims his first win over Phelps when he out-touched the American by seven hundredths of a second in the 100m butterfly at the Longhorns Elite Invite with a time of 51.58.

August

He "warms up" at Rio 2016 by clocking a new 100m freestyle national record of 48.27 in the heats before finishing last of 16 swimmers in the semi-finals.

But it is in the 100m butterfly that Schooling truly dazzles. A time of 51.41 is good enough to top the 43-swimmer field in the heats and he goes on to set another Asian record as his 50.83 in the semi-finals is 0.6 seconds faster than the next best performer Le Clos.

August 13

History is made when he touches the wall first in a new Olympic record of 50.39 in the 100m butterfly final to win Singapore's first-ever Olympic gold, beating Phelps, Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh into a dead-heat silver by 0.75 seconds.