Schooling: NTC coaches inspire the best out of me

Olympic champion Joseph Schooling is ready to go "more than full steam ahead" when he moves back to Singapore early next year to train for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 23-year-old said in a video interview for the SwimSwam website last week that he would return to Singapore in "January or February" 2019, after completing his undergraduate studies with the University of Texas at Austin next month.

Upon his return, he is looking forward to working with the Singapore Swimming Association's national head coach and performance director Stephan Widmer, technical director Sonya Porter and National Training Centre (NTC) head coach Gary Tan.

"It's (coming back) going to be awesome, I am super excited. Sonya, Stephan and Gary give me the attention I want; they are all in. All of them," Schooling told reporters at the OCBC Aquatic Centre after the Fina Swimming World Cup Singapore media conference at Kallang Wave Mall yesterday.

"The definition of a good coach for me is when they are watching me do something, there's something inside me that wants to make them proud and they inspire the best out of me.

"That's exactly what the three of them do, day in and day out, along with my strength coach.

"These people get me, they know what makes me tick. That's why I am very excited to come home and start this new chapter heading into (Olympics) 2020 with all of them."

Schooling won the 100m butterfly title in Rio de Janeiro in an Olympic record of 50.39 seconds under the guidance of Texas Longhorns coach Eddie Reese, and he believes his coaching team at the NTC "have a more solid plan than ever before".

At the short-course World Cup event, which starts at the OCBC Aquatic Centre today, he will compete in the 50m and 100m fly, as well as the 4x50m mixed medley relay. - NICOLE CHIA

•Tickets for the Fina Swimming World Cup Singapore are available at www.sportshubtix.sg