The Star of the Day is Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who beat swimming great Michael Phelps to win his country’s first Olympic gold medal and became an instant millionaire in the process.
“Its been a hard road, I’ve done something that no one in our country has done before. I’ve received a lot of support and that’s phenomenal,” Schooling told reporters.
Watched by his mother and president Tony Tan in the stands, the 21-year-old beat 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. Singapore has spent millions trying to win more medals at the Olympics, including offering a Foreign Sports Talent programme which grants promising foreign athletes citizenship, as well as a S$1mn ($743,494.42) prize for gold medals. Schooling left the country at 14 to train in the United States and now studies at the University of Texas in Austin, whose programme is led by two-time US Olympic men’s head coach Eddie Reese.









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