Singapore's only Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling confessed in August 2022 to consuming cannabis while competing at the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, prompting a formal warning, a six-month supervised urine test regime and the loss of national service privileges to train and compete.
The Ministry of Defence announced that Schooling had confessed to consuming cannabis overseas in May 2022, when he was on short-term disruption from full-time national service to train and compete at the Hanoi Games, where he won two gold medals in the 100m butterfly and the 4x100m medley relay. Although his urine tests returned negative, the Central Narcotics Bureau's investigation established the consumption, and the case was handed to the Singapore Armed Forces since Schooling was a full-time national serviceman.
In an Instagram story that evening, the 27-year-old wrote that he had given in to a moment of weakness after going through a very tough period of his life, apologised to his family and the young fans who looked up to him, and vowed not to let the country down again. His father had died of liver cancer the previous year, and Schooling had struggled with form since his Tokyo Olympics disappointment.
Under SAF protocol, Schooling was formally warned and placed on a supervised urine test regime for six months. Crucially, he would no longer be eligible for leave or disruption from national service to train or compete, effectively ruling him out of the following year's Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and World Championships. He was warned he faced up to nine months' detention in barracks for any subsequent drug abuse.
The revelation was seismic in Singapore, which enforces some of the world's toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for trafficking, with prohibitions applying to citizens even overseas. Schooling had been a national hero since Rio 2016, when he beat Michael Phelps to win the 100m butterfly, the country's first Olympic title. Fellow national swimmer Amanda Lim was also investigated for cannabis consumption overseas.
Sport Singapore and the Singapore Swimming Association said they would review the case. Schooling completed his national service and announced his retirement from competitive swimming in April 2024, closing the career of Singapore's greatest swimmer under the shadow of the 2022 confession.
Schooling's gold in Rio, where he touched home ahead of Phelps in the American's final Olympic race, had made him Singapore's most beloved athlete. He trained and studied at the University of Texas in Austin, but his form faded after 2016, culminating in elimination in the Tokyo heats and his father's death months later.
Fellow national swimmer Amanda Lim was also investigated for cannabis consumption overseas. Sport Singapore and the Singapore Swimming Association said they would review the facts and determine appropriate steps. Schooling completed his national service and announced his retirement from competitive swimming in April 2024.