Tharman Shanmugaratman, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, wrote on his Facebook of how proud he is of Joseph Schooling.
Mr Shanmugaratman wrote, “What a sensation Joseph Isaac Schooling is.”
“Fastest in the 100m butterfly heats. Fastest in the semi-finals. Fastest time in the world this year. Fastest Asian ever,” he added.
Joseph won the semi-finals on Friday (12 August). “I feel fine. It was all about posting a good enough time to get into top eight. And come back tomorrow and try to do it. It’s a good confidence booster but doesn’t really mean anything,” Joseph said to the media after winning the semi-finals.
Mr Shanmugaratman also expressed his gratitude towards Quah Zheng Wen, “We felt so much pride when the commentator highlighted to the world, immediately after the heats, that the two Singaporeans had qualified for the top 16. That was thanks to Quah Zheng Wen posting his personal best he was not as brawny as the rest, but swam with great style.”
“Now Joseph had made it to the finals, topping the list, and history has been made for our little nation,” he said.
On Saturday morning, Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first ever gold medal with an Olympic record of 50.39s.
