Recently, our golden boy Joseph Schooling got himself into a bit of a media pickle.

In an interview with local media earlier this month (on August 1) after touching down from the FINA World Championships in Hungary, he said the following:

“We’ve always had a great swimming tradition at the SEA Games. We have a young but solid group going, so I think we have the potential and the chance to do something special at the coming SEA Games. 2015 was something special for us, I think it will be nice to go to Malaysia's backyard and teach them a thing or two."

Now, the "them" he referred to here was his younger teammates. Note that Schooling spoke of how Singapore has enjoyed a "great swimming tradition" at the SEA Games, and that this year, "we have a young and solid group going".

Unfortunately, the last part of his soundbite was misread by some, who went on to take offence, thinking he was being arrogant by saying he would teach Malaysia "a thing or two" at the upcoming meet.

Malaysian media promptly picked up on this, also taking the chance to highlight that his mother, May Schooling, is Malaysian, and so questioned him about it when he arrived in KL on Friday night for the Games.

Apologised twice

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old, one of the captains for Singapore's SEA Games swim team, took responsibility for the flak he got as a result of his comments.

In a New Straits Times video interview, a reporter asked him if he was expecting a hostile reaction from the Malaysian community. He said:

"Yeah, I mean, like I said, those words were definitely taken out of context. I'm here to swim. If I've offended someone or anyone, I apologise for that wasn't my intention."

He also reiterated in his response that he was here to "do the best [he] can for Singapore and for the swimming fraternity in [his] country".

However, a reporter urged him again: "So, at the end of the day, to clear the air, are you sorry for what has happened?"

In response, Schooling said:

"Yeah, I just said, if I've offended anyone, I'm definitely sorry for my comments, but I definitely didn't mean that. I didn't mean it that way.

I'm here to swim, I'm not here to make any other comments outside of swimming. I am one of the co-captains. I'm here to help the rookies as much as I can, and do my best for my country."

Schooling also expressed his gratitude to Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, who has backed the swimmer by urging the Malaysian public not to jeer at him during the Games.

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The context explained

And sure enough, he explained as much earlier on August 8, in a follow-up interview with Singapore media —

“I was speaking about how we have a younger team than before, and then I threw in Malaysia somehow, must be the 17 hours of jetlag. And then I said I can’t wait to go to their backyard and teach them a thing or two, which made it sound like I was criticising Malaysia.

But I was actually talking about the younger kids going there, and teaching all the rookies a thing or two about the launchpad that we have in the SEA Games to bigger and better meets in the future.

(The younger swimmers are) Very solid, very focussed... The only thing they lack is competition experience. And for this year I think majority of the team are rookies. And so for me, I think it’s always good to have an experienced guy next to you.

I’m not going to tell them how to swim a race, that’s up to them and their coaches’ jobs, all I can do is provide moral support. It’s always nice to have a big brother or sister ... to reassure the kids … and I think we can help them a great deal in that way.”

Here is the full 5 min 15 sec video of his interview (comments about his remark start at the 2 min 17 sec mark):

Schooling will be taking part in three individual events and three relays at the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games.

Top image screenshot via New Straits Times' video

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