Singapore's Olympic champ Joseph Schooling capped off his final day in Singapore with a whirlwind victory parade around the eastern and central parts of the country.

He rode at the front of an open-top bus with his best mate Teo Zhen Ren, alongside both their pairs of parents, coach Sergio Lopez (who happened to have flown in on Wednesday to tie up some affairs) and other family friends.

Schooling made three pit stops: one at Marine Terrace, where his childhood-favourite carrot cake and Milo Dinosaur stalls were, another at Comcentre, and a third for a fan meet at Raffles City, where he signed autographs.

Now let's get to the pictures:

1. Schooling rolls up in the open-top bus where his tour begins. Thumbs up (because the day's only just beginning).

2. While he still had energy (this was early on in the journey), Schooling multitasked — taking photos and video of the many who gathered to wave to him along the route while waving back.

3. All these multitasking Singaporeans (We also noticed the shameless plug, well done there).

4. Pumping his fist in the air in exuberance, to fans below and looking on from above.

5. First pit-stop: the food centre and market at 50a, Marine Terrace. Here's him getting escorted out by his 7-man-strong security detail after taking a bite of his extra dark chai tow kway. 

We're not sure if he got a sip of his Milo Dinosaur either.

6. This is just a slight look at the thousands who gathered at Marine Terrace in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the swim star. 

With him: Marine Parade GRC MPs Edwin Tong and Seah Kian Peng. Many others queued for hours under the hot sun in the hopes of an autograph, but were to be disappointed. He needed to hustle along; he was behind schedule.

7. This scene reminds us of past General Election victory parades.

8. Just look how genuinely happy he is to see everyone!

9. The sign said "I came to school for ya". Scenes of super high-pitched screams all over along Tanjong Katong Girls School, just one of the many East-side schools Schooling passed.

We love this uncle's enthusiasm, too.

10. Pit-stop 2: Comcentre in Somerset where we met this super-dedicated aunty.

11. And here's the bicep photo with his new ink:

We know you're here for this photo.

12. Schooling receives a bunch of goodies from Singtel.

He received a gift pack containing a Samsung Galaxy Note7, Gear Icon X, Bluetooth headset, Samsung Gear Fit2 and Samsung Gear 360.

13. This was pretty much Schooling's life every time he disembarked from the bus.

14. All along the Orchard Road to Bras Basah stretch, it was pretty much like this:

15. Many drivers like this one wound down their windows, honked and waved to Schooling.

Many traffic rules were broken in this morning — oh, and did we mention two car mishaps happened while their drivers were waving to him?

16. And here he is at his third and final stop: a fan meet at Raffles City. Here's him, coach Lopez and May Schooling (his mom) taking a wefie with the crowd.

17. Singapore's history-making winning team.

18. Here's Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who was present with Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Grace Fu at the fan meet. Fu spoke briefly with Schooling.

19. Real fan right there.

20. Signing autographs again — Schooling did this for roughly 45 minutes before he was ushered off to have a harried lunch, rush back home and pack for his flight tonight.

What a crazy week it's been for Schooling, but tonight he flies back to Austin, Texas, to return to the life of being a student, and hitting the pool once more.

 

Top photo by Lee Ming Yi for Mothership.sg.

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