Rio Olympics 2016: Eight years ago a kid from Singapore met the most decorated player of Olympic history, Michael Phelps, and immediately knew that he was his idol. Joseph Schooling first met Michael Phelps, when he was just 13 years old and neither of them had any idea that a day will come when the same young lad would defeat the champion in an Olympic swimming pool. While Phelps having a whopping number of 22 Golds is looking for another medal before the swimming tournament ends, Schooling beat his hero in the 100-meter butterfly at the Games on Friday. To add to this, he won his country’s first ever gold medal.
Phelps, who finished in a three-way tie for silver, is the three-time reigning gold medalist in that event and had already claimed four gold medals in each of the finals he swam in Rio de Janeiro. With a timing quicker than any of Phelp’s previous win timings in the last two Olympics, 21-year-old Singaporean swam the 100 in 50.39 seconds which is an Olympic record. Phelps tied for the second spot with Chad le Clos from South Africa and Laszlo Cseh from Hungary clocking 51.14 seconds. Earlier, Schooling beat Phelps in the semifinals as well.
Even though Phelps was disappointed, he couldn’t stop praising the young boy. Schooling, is a swimmer for University of Texas, will reportedly receive a $750,000 bonus from the Singaporean National Olympic council.
In his probably the last Olympics, Phelps on Saturday, in the the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay final, will try to make use of the last opportunity to add another medal to his 27 before.