Watch me fly at Asiad

NAYPYIDAW- Budding talent in Indonesia 2011, now a bona fide star in Myanmar 2013. How do you feel about being the most bemedalled athlete at this SEA Games?

Schooling : I feel so happy and fortunate to be here. As a team, we've done really well.

Two years ago, I won two golds, one silver and one bronze, and we got disqualified in the relay. And now five golds, one silver and four meet records, it means a lot to me.

It's a huge relief to complete my campaign with these achievements, because there were more expectations and pressure this time compared to 2011.

I'm a bit bummed we didn't win the last relay, but that just gives me more incentive to train harder.

As an eligible young man, you must be getting a lot of female attention. Even as you set yourself lofty targets in the pool and people expect you to deliver them, how do you stay focused?

It's not as easy as it seems. There are lots of distractions.

I guess girls do help (to keep me focused, believe it or not). I'm not the type to put restrictions on myself. It's natural for us guys to go out with girls.

But obviously, I can't stay out too late and miss practice. So it's about doing the little things right.

What can we expect from Joseph Schooling at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore?

I don't know what I'm swimming in 2015 yet.

That's still 18 months away and there's an exciting 2014 ahead, so I don't want to set a limit for what's going to happen in two years' time.

So even as you aim for medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016, your times are certainly good enough for a medal regardless of the colour at the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea (see sidebar). What targets have you set for yourself between now and then?

I'm not going for the Commonwealth Games next year because I can't take too much time off college.

I'm focused on the Asian Games and I'm excited because I think I've got a good shot at doing well. I'm feeling good and confident.

Personal bests, medals, records. I'm not saying that I will win gold right now, but I'm going to give myself a shot.

It's eight to nine months to the Asian Games and I'll be swimming in the 100m fly, 200m fly and the 200m individual medley. We've also got a good relay team, so I should be swimming in that as well.

I'll just keep grinding. I trust Sergio (Lopez, Schooling's swimming coach) 100 per cent.

HIS PERSONAL BESTS

l 24.06 (50m butterfly) l 52.33 (100m butterfly) l 1:56.27 (200m butterfly) l 1:59.99 (200m individual medley)

HOW HE COMPARES WITH THE BEST

2010 ASIAN GAMES

50m butterfly

Gold: Zhou Jiawei (China) 23.66 (Games record) Silver: Masayuki Kishida (Japan) 24.13 Bronze: Virdhawal Khade (India) 24.31

100m butterfly

Gold: Zhou Jiawei (China) 51.83 (Games record) Silver: Takuro Fujii (Japan) 51.85 Bronze: Wu Peng (China) 52.72

200m butterfly

Gold: Takeshi Matsuda (Japan) 1:54.02 (Games record) Silver: Ryusuke Sakata (Japan) 1:55.23 Bronze: Chen Yin (China) 1:55.29

200m individual medley

Gold: Ken Takakuwa (Japan) 1:58.31 (Games record) Silver: Wang Shun (China) 1:59.72 Bronze: Yuya Horihata (Japan) 2:00.48

2012 OLYMPICS

100m butterfly

Gold: Michael Phelps (US) 51.21 Joint Silver: Chad le Clos (South Africa) and Yevgeny Korotyshkin (Russia) 51.44

200m butterfly

Gold: Chad le Clos (South Africa) 1:52.96 Silver: Michael Phelps (US) 1:53.01 Bronze: Takeshi Matsuda (Japan) 1:53.21

200m individual medley

Gold: Michael Phelps (US) 1:54.27 Silver: Ryan Lochte (US) 1:54.90 Bronze: Laszlo Cseh (Hungary) 1:56.22

*There was no 50m butterfly at the 2012 Olympics

Get The New Paper for more stories.