Olympics golden boy Joseph Schooling retires from swimming

Eight years after his stunning success at the Rio Olympics, Singapore's greatest athlete Joseph Schooling has called time on his career.

- Rohit Brijnath

The 28-year-old swimmer, whose last major medal came at the 2021 SEA Games, told The Straits Times that he is going to play golf and work in the venture capital space with two partners in the sectors of "health and wellness, tech and sustainability".

Singapore's only Olympic champion, who won a 100m butterfly gold in 2016 against a field studded with talent including American legend Michael Phelps, said in an exclusive interview with The Straits Times that "it's kind of surreal to actually be going to a swimming pool and spectating instead of competing".

The highly competitive son of Colin and May Schooling said he was both lucky and thankful for his parents, his coaches and his support team.

They gave him, he said, "the opportunity to be able to freely express who I am in the water. No judgment, no hesitation, complete trust and love". "To have to leave all that behind. Yeah, it sucks." Schooling's career was not without bumps, most famously, the revelation in 2022 that he had consumed cannabis overseas.