Dead last in the 100m butterfly heats.
His Olympic Record in 2016 was 50.39.
He is now 2.73 seconds slower.
This must be one of the worst, if not the worst, defence of an Olympic title.
Would be better not to have shown up.
Like Cotton Chan would say: "xia suay"
The Mediacorp commentators now defending Joseph for dear life.
Mark Richmond: "Don't forget Joseph Schooling is the only Olympian gold medallist we have. It is unrealistic to expect him to defend....."
Then WTF is Schooling going to the Tokyo Olympics for? To go and bonk all the chiobus in the Olympic Village?
What is Schooling's excuse?
MENTAL HEALTH?
Olympics: S'pore swimmer Joseph Schooling fails to make 100m fly semis, says he has no regrets
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Joseph Schooling swimming in the men’s 100m butterfly heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, on July 29, 2021.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Sazali Abdul Aziz
Correspondent
July 29, 2021
TOKYO - Singapore's Joseph Schooling clocked 53.12 seconds in his 100m butterfly heat at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday (July 27) night and will not defend the medal he won in 2016.
The 26-year-old placed last in the fifth of eight heats, which was led by Holland's Nyls Korstanje (51.54). He was 44th in the field of 55.
Teammate Quah Zheng Wen also missed the cut after clocking 52.39sec to finish fourth in heat four. He finished 34th overall.
Only the 16 swimmers with the quickest times will progress to the semi-finals which will be held on Friday morning.
American Caeleb Dressel, the world record holder, led all qualifiers with a time of 50.39sec, equalling Schooling's Olympic record.
Speaking to media at the mixed zone, Schooling said he felt off and “flat” before his race but was at a loss to explain why.
“It’s definitely not a fitness issue,” he stressed.
Schooling said he does not know exactly what his plans are for the rest of the year and beyond but he added: “I sure as hell don’t want it (his career) to end like this.”
He also said he does not believe a radical change in training methods is needed, and insisted the preparation he had for the Olympics under coach Sergio Lopez was as good as they could have done.
Asked if he had any regrets about how Tokyo has panned out for him, he shook his head: “No.”