Book Page 116 and 117
Read the article and choose the correct answer.
- This article is about a professional swimmer.
Joseph Schooling
by SwimSwam
Joseph Schooling is a multi-time All-American and World Championship bronze medallist at the University of Texas. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he beat out Michael Phelps in the 100 butterfly to become the Olympic Champion. His gold in Rio was the first-ever Olympic gold for Singapore.
Born June16, 1995, to May and Colin Schooling in Singapore, Schooling has represented Singapore on the international level, but he attended high school and swam at Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL where he broke the National Independent and overall high school record in the 100 fly. The sixfoot standout is versatile and can swim both sprint and IM events at an elite level.
Schooling was named the Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year and advanced the NCAA Championships as a freshman where he won three gold medals and one bronze. He became the first Longhorn in five years to win an NCAA individual title when he took the 100-yard butterfly in 44.51. He just beat out his teammate, Jack Conger, by 0.4 seconds in a Texas dominated final. In the event, Longhorns finished 1-2-3-4 and 6. He completed the butterfly double, picking up the gold again in the longer vent. Up against Conger again, the pair were side-by-side for the first half. But a stunning third 50 saw him pull away to take the title. His other gold came as a member of the 400-yard medley relay. He teamed up with Kip Darmody, Will Lincoln and Jack Conger to break the NCAA and U.S. open records. In the 200-yard medley relay, he was a member of the Texas team that finished third. Schooling swam in the 200-yard medley consolation final, finishing first and the 400-yard freestyle relay where Texas finished fourth. Schooling represented Team Singapore at the 2014 Asian Games where he picked up a gold in the 100m butterfly, silver in the 50m butterfly and bronze in the 200m butterfly. He also had previously swum under the Olympic “A” standard and earned his way to London to compete in the 2012 London Olympics. When Schooling medaled in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he was the first Singaporean to medal in swimming at the Commonwealth Games.
At the 2015 World championship in Kazan, Schooling was prepared specially for his butterfly events. Schooling swam all three butterfly distances including the 50-metre, 100-metre and 200-metre fly. In the 50-metre fly, Schooling advanced to the championship final, and finished 7 th in an extremely tight race. Although he finished 7 th , Schooling was only 0.28 seconds behind the winner, Florent Manaudou. Schooling’s swim was a new Asian record.
In the 200-metre fly, an event that Schooling had just won at the NCAA Championship, Schooling advanced from preliminaries to the semi-finals in the 13 th spot. He dropped time off of his prelims swim, but it wasn’t enough to advance him to the championship final. Schooling also tackled the 100-metre fly, which he advanced to the championship final. At the 50-metre mark, Schooling led to heat, but Chad le Clos’ back-half was stunning. Schooling touched in a historic 3 rd place behind le Clos and Laszlo Cesh. He set a new national and Asian record, and his finish marked Singapore’s first-ever podium finish at a World Championship.
Schooling pulled off the upset in Rio, beating out Michael Phelps and denying him of his 23 rd gold Olympic medal. And he did it in style. His 50.39 was a new Olympic Record and he was streak ahead of the three-way tie that finished second. He led from start to finish, turning first in 23.64. As the race unfolded down the final 50, his lead only grew and Michael Phelps’ comeback was made impossible. He finished 0.79 seconds ahead of Phelps, Laszlo Cesh and Chad le Clos who all touched in 51.14 to take second. Schooling’s gold medal was the first-ever for Singapore in the Olympics.
