LOOK: Young Schooling with his boyhood idol Phelps

ABS-CBN News

Posted at Aug 13 2016 06:47 PM

LOOK: Young Schooling with his boyhood idol Phelps 1
Eight years after Joseph Schooling posed with Michael Phelps, the Singapore swimmer beats him in the pool for gold. Reuters

Check out this photo of a young Joseph Schooling posing with his idol Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time.

The picture was taken eight years before Schooling defeated Phelps at the 100m butterfly in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Phelps, who already has 22 gold medals, settled for a silver.

LOOK: Young Schooling with his boyhood idol Phelps 2
Eight years after Joseph Schooling posed with Michael Phelps, the Singapore swimmer beats him in the pool for gold. Reuters

Following his victory, Schooling paid tribute to Phelps for inspiring him to pursue the sport and later win for Singapore its first ever Olympic gold medal.

"If it wasn't for Michael, I don't think I could have gotten to this point. I wanted to be like him as a kid.

"I wanted to win. And I think a lot of this is because of Michael, he's the reason I wanted to be a better swimmer." -- reports from Reuters