Lad Wins Singapore's First Ever Gold Medal And Beats His Hero Michael Phelps

Featured image credit: PA

They say you should never meet your hero, but I'm not sure what the deal is with beating your hero in the Olympics.

That's what happened with Singapore's Joseph Schooling who won his country's first ever gold medal and did it by beating his idol, Michael Phelps - that's got to feel pretty good.

Michael Phelps has already won a staggering 22 gold medals in his career, and it looked like he was pretty much unstoppable, until he came up against Joseph.

Joseph smashed the 100-metre butterfly in 50.39 seconds and Michael managed a respectable 51.14. Phelps tied for silver with South Africa's Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, there was no bronze medal winner in this race.

What makes this story even better is that when he was just 13 Joseph met his hero Michael and the picture is brilliant.

In a show of good sportsmanship Phelps told an NBC reporter that his 'hat's definitely off to him'.

Congratulations, Joseph.

Words Claire Reid

Featured Image Credit:

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19