2017 Big 12 Championships

Schooling Looks To Overcome Olympic Hangover At Big 12 Championship

Schooling Looks To Overcome Olympic Hangover At Big 12 Championship

The 2017 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas will serve as Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling's chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Feb 20, 2017 by Maclin Simpson
Schooling Looks To Overcome Olympic Hangover At Big 12 Championship
​Joseph Schooling​ had one heck of a 2016.​

NCAA Records in the 100 & 200 butterfly? Check.
NCAA Team Championship for Texas? Check.
Represent Singapore in the Rio Olympics? Check.
Olympic Gold Medal in the 100m butterfly? Check.
Olympic Record in the 100m butterfly? Check.
Take down the greatest Olympian of all time? Check.
Qualify for the 2017 NCAA Championships? Uhh... Not yet.

Watch the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship LIVE on FloSwimming here.

Big 12 Swimming And Diving Championship Watch Live

Schooling became a national hero in Singapore after he shocked the world by defeating ​Michael Phelps​ in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Need a refresher? Watch the race in full below.​



His time of 50.39 became a new Olympic Record, taking down Phelps' 50.58 which was set in 2008 from the unbelievable race in Beijing where Phelps out-touched ​Michael Cavic​. A lot could be said about that, but this is about Joseph Schooling.​

After his phenomenal performance in Rio, Schooling took a much-deserved victory tour celebrating both in Singapore and the United States. After all, he reached the pinnacle of swimming: winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games.​

Where does he go from there? How does he come back? The 'Olympic Hangover' is a very common and well-known term in the swimming community. Swimmer's exert unfathomable amounts of time and energy into preparing, or attempting to qualify, for a single competition. But a lot of times they come back to their respective hometowns or college campuses and find that the thrill is not quite the same. The level of intensity and excitement for training sessions and competitions is not quite the same.

For Joseph Schooling, this was certainly the case. The Texas Longhorn Junior has yet to qualify for the 2017 NCAA Championships, something that would seem to be a foregone conclusion for an NCAA Record holder and reigning Olympic champion.

However, he will have an opportunity to do that this week at the 2017 Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships in his home pool at the University of Texas. Schooling and his Texas teammates will look to use this meet as a launching point going into the NCAA Championships, where they will vie for their third-consecutive team title.

Can Schooling finally overcome the Olympic Hangover and solidify his spot at the NCAA Championships? Stay tuned to FloSwimming this week to find out.

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