Singapore’s Olympic golden boy Joseph Schooling has retired from competitive swimming.
The swimmer, who brought a tiny nation to its knees in August 2016 at the Rio Olympics posted a Facebook post in the wee hours on 2 April.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter — I will be retiring from competitive swimming,” he said in the first line of his post.
“I am filled with gratitude for every experience that swimming has brought into my life.
“The victories were exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and together, they have forged a resilience in me that I will carry forward into my next chapter.”
In his Facebook post, the 29-year-old who is also a six time Sportsman of the Year winner said that despite retiring from swimming, it will forever be a “part of who I am.”
“Needless to say, I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to my family, coaches, teammates, and my supporters; your encouragement and faith have been a constant source of motivation throughout my journey,” he said.
The 29-year-old holds the most national marks of any Singaporean swimmer – six individual national records (50m, 100m and 200 butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle and the 200m individual medley) and two national records in the relays (4x200m freestyle and 4×100 medley).
His announcement comes just months before the Paris Olympics, and months after he was not selected for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
HIS SWIMMING HISTORY
He won multiple gold medals at the regional Southeast Asian Games in 2011 and 2013.
He then became the first Singaporean to win a swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games which was a silver in the 100m butterfly.
At the same event at the Incheon Asian Games, he struck gold and won a silver (50m butterfly) and a bronze (200m butterfly).
At the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, he won nine gold medals and then toll a bronze at the World Swimming Championships.
And then he went on to beat Michael Phelps at the Rio Olympics in a time of 50.39s to clinch Singapore’s only gold medal at the Olympic Games so far.
WHAT’S NEXT?
At only 29, Schooling still has a lot in the tank.
There was no indication of what was to come.
“I am eager to explore new passions, face different challenges, and see where this next phase of life takes me.”
MAIN PHOTO: JOSEPH SCHOOLING