Internet Desk: In just one performance, Singapore’s Joseph Schooling beat swimming great Michael Phelps, took home his city state’s first Olympic gold medal and became an instant millionaire.
Known at home for smashing national records and taking multiple titles in regional competitions, Schooling had held the hopes of Singapore, a Southeast Asian island nation of less than six million, which had only won two silvers and two bronzes since it joined the Olympic fold in 1948.
Watched by his mother and president Tony Tan in the stands, the 21-year-old beat his idol Phelps, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in the 100 metres butterfly final on Friday, to grab the gold while the others completed a remarkable three-way dead-heat for silver.