Education surprised the world when he beat Michael Phelps for the 100m butterfly gold on the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Joseph Education, the swimmer who received Singapore’s first and to this point solely Olympic gold medal in 2016, has introduced his retirement from the pool on the age of 28.
Recognized within the city-state as “Singapore’s Flying Fish”, Education surprised the swimming world when he beat his boyhood hero Michael Phelps to win the 100 metres butterfly with a time of fifty.39 seconds on the Rio Olympics.
It was the American swimming legend Phelps’s final particular person race of his profession and got here after Phelps received a document eight gold medals on the London Olympics in 2012.
Education discovered it tough to match that degree of worldwide success after 2016, successful a solitary bronze medal on the 2017 world championships and crashing out within the heats in his title defence on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“At the moment marks the start of a brand new chapter – I will likely be retiring from aggressive swimming,” he stated in a message posted on Fb on Tuesday.
“It comes a time when everybody has to flip the web page, flip a brand new chapter. That is my time to try this, that is my official retirement,” Education stated. “There are not any regrets.
“I’m stuffed with gratitude for each expertise that swimming has introduced into my life. The victories had been exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and collectively, they’ve solid a resilience in me that I’ll carry ahead into my subsequent chapter.”
The defeats have been extra frequent than the victories within the eight years since Rio however Education will retire with three Asian Video games gold medals and 29 from the Southeast Asian Video games.
Education holds eight Singapore data, six in particular person occasions and two within the relays.
In 2022, Education was pressured to apologise for utilizing hashish in Vietnam whereas competing there on go away from army service.
Education was disregarded of the Singapore staff for final 12 months’s delayed Asian Video games in Hangzhou as a result of two different swimmers had recorded sooner occasions.
He instructed the Straits Instances it was “a bummer” and that he was undecided about his future heading into one other Olympic 12 months.
“Whereas I’m stepping away from competing, swimming will without end be part of who I’m. It has given me a platform to encourage others to chase their desires, regardless of the chances,” he added on Tuesday.
“I’m wanting to discover new passions, face totally different challenges, and see the place this subsequent part of life takes me.”