It Was A Big Sacrifice For Us, And It Was Tough

We all watched the race in which Joseph Schooling took home Singapore’s first Olympic gold. In an exclusive interview, his mother May reveals the family heartbreak and joy behind his medal

- Natalya Molok

I can’t swim,” may Schooling confesses with a chuckle. We’ve been sitting in the Schoolings’ marine Parade office for half an hour, chatting about parenthood, when this revelation comes to light.

I look at her in disbelief, refusing to accept may doesn’t know her backstroke from her butterfly. “Joseph was a water baby from the get-go. He would jump into the sea, pools and river; you couldn’t stop him,” she remembers. “So for me, it was like ‘I can’t swim, who’s going to save him? I have to make sure he’s water safe’, and that’s how I made sure he learnt how to swim.”

It’s curious to hear the woman behind Singapore’s swimming champ can barely tread water. “Well, I won’t drown but the most I can do is a doggy paddle,” she laughs. “Joseph’s father, Colin, is the swimmer in this family.”

May is refreshingly open and cheerful about so many aspects of her family. She reveals that she grew up poor, and even after she married Colin in 1983, she feared she would never become a mother. Joseph is her miracle baby, in a way.

A Tiger Mum?

Their son came late into may and Colin Schooling’s lives. attempts at conceiving naturally were difficult and the couple suffered several miscarriages along the way. When Joseph finally came into being 12 years after they first tied the knot, may was already 40, but she was thrilled. “He was a miracle – and an amazingly easy baby!”