LESSON FROM LONDON

Before the 2012 Olympics, all the talk in Singapore swimming was how London could well be the stage for the breakout moment of Joseph Schooling. This was no idle hope. Afterall, the youngster was in blazing form.

At the 2011 SEA Games in Palembang, Indonesia, for instance, he set four national records on the way to four medals — two golds, one silver and a bronze. More significantly, he had met the ‘A’ qualifying time for the Olympics in the men’s 200m fly — a clear sign that he was ready to compete against the world’s best.

So it did look as though Joseph’s star would shine brightly in London. That would have special significance as his granduncle, high jumper Lloyd Valberg, had competed at the 1948 Olympics — and in London too. If the stars had aligned, all the sacrifices that Joseph and his parents Colin and May had made for his young career would have been worth it.

One of the sacrifices involved sending him to train and study at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida — a move which meant inevitable homesickness and loneliness for the teenager. London 2012 would yield some happy returns which would vindicate the decision by the Schoolings to send their son 16,000km away from home.

But, as things turned out, an almost ridiculous cap-and-goggles fiasco marred the swimmer’s Olympic debut. Just minutes before his 200m fly heat, his gear was rejected. Still fairly inexperienced at the international level, he was understandably rattled by the incident. He fumbled, finishing more than two seconds off his personal best in his pet event.

Yet what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger — and faster. Which is the script Joseph goes by, judging by his phenomenal growth as a swimmer since London. On his transformation, he says, “When things went wrong in the 2012 Olympics, I was of course very demoralised at first. Afterall, I had trained so hard and everything looked promising. But I have come to understand that every setback offers an opportunity for growth.”

His results since London speak loudly for him. In 2014, competing in Glasgow against big names from countries like Australia and South Africa, he delivered Singapore’s first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal — a silver in the 100m fly. Clocking 51.69 seconds, he lost to Olympic champion, South Africa’s Chad le Clos, by just 0.4 of a second.

Then came the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. There the youngster made history yet again with his win in the 100m fly. In 51.76 seconds, he ended Singapore’s 32-year wait for an Asian Games men’s swimming gold medal as he finished ahead of China’s Li Zhuhao (51.91) and Japan’s Hirofumi Ikebata (52.08).

At the same competition, he also won silver in the 50m fly and bronze in the 200m fly. The way he, nursing a nerve injury in his right shoulder, pushed through the pain barrier to ward off a fast finishing Wang Pudong of China in the 200m fly spoke volumes of his character. Yes, post-London 2012, long after the cap-and-goggles episode, Joseph Schooling has shown he is not easily cowed.