Joseph Schooling says retirement decision coming "sooner rather than later, in the next few weeks"

Singapore Olympic legend Joseph Schooling says a decision on whether he's going to retire from swimming is coming soon.

"The end point needs to be definitive," his nation's first-ever Olympic gold medallist said in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the SEA Games 2021 in 2022.

"We need to have a clear and concise plan for what we need to be doing, no matter how tough the route is going to be, but it's going to be quite straight-forward from there.

"So the planning part is the hardest part.

"I don't want to keep postponing things, this is the start of my future, swimming's been great, it's given me a lot of things, swimming has opened a lot of doors, but now it's time to live life."

But while the 26-year-old is going to decide on a plan to say goodbye to the swim world, his time in the pool isn't up yet.

"I'm not ready to be done, for sure, but we need a plan, and that's coming in the next few weeks, not months," he added.

"I'm a guy who likes to plan so definitely in the next week or two I can understand what I can do, given the current circumstances."

Schooling's training and preparations for the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi have been hampered as he completes his mandatory military service in Singapore.

Despite that he still won two gold medals and a bronze, defending his 100m butterfly title for the fifth straight South East Asian Games.

"It definitely won't be a silent retirement" - Joseph Schooling

"This is the last transition of my career," Schooling continued, "it definitely won't be a silent retirement, but at the same time it's more of a 'what's the right thing to do...'"

"The meets will be very important, scheduling wise, if everything comes together, then great, I'm more than happy to swim until Asian Games time, like September, October.

"But if not then we really need to sit down and see what kind of meets I want to end on."

Schooling lost his father in November 2021, and is now looking at life after swimming, he told Olympics.com in Hanoi that he's also thinking about his mother.

"It's a conversation I need to have with my coaches, with my mom as well, it's time to... maybe I start thinking about taking over her role in the business world for example, these are factors that I need to consider.

"I'm not 19 any more where my parents can hold down the fort and I'm free to do whatever I can, I need to be cognisant about these things as well.

"I'm not sure, I would like to swim if I can, I think that if this is my last SEA Games then this has been a great Games to end on, but ya, you never know."

Joseph Schooling to continue to Paris 2024?

After a double gold medal-winning performance in Vietnam, is he thinking to the Paris 2024 Olympics?

"No, not at all, Paris is two years away, there's so many things that could go on, I'm really looking forward to Asian Games this year, unfortunately it got pushed but I think Shanghai is opening in June right?

"So hopefully the Asian Games is back on but if it's not then I guess we'll play the hand that we're dealt, we can't control the things that we can't so let's just see what's going to happen."

With his SEA Games 2021 finished, Schooling is off to support the team.

"Right now I'm gonna enjoy the sights, I'm gonna enjoy cheering my team on, it's so diffferent when you're in the stands not having to swim, rather than preparing for a race so it's something that I haven't been able to do very often so trust me, I'm gonna take full advantage of that."