OLYMPICS : MICHAEL PHELPS IS HUMAN AFTER ALL, BEATEN BY A FAN !

OLYMPICS : MICHAEL PHELPS IS HUMAN, AFTER ALL - - BEATEN BY A FAN !

Yes, Michael Phelps is human, after all. Not invincible. In what could be his last individual swim in the Olympics, Phelps succumbed to his astonishingly unexpected conqueror - a former fan that he had met as a young 13-year old boy some years ago, waiting for his autograph. His name? Joseph Schooling. Schooling, though qualified in the 2012 London Olympics, was virtually unheard of - until now. He has denied his idol, Phelps, of an unimaginable 23rd career Olympic Gold Medal - well at least, for now - right in one of Phelps' favorite events, the 100 Meter Butterfly. Phelps had won this event in the last 3 consecutive Olympics. But what more for Schooling? He has gloriously handed his native Singapore its first Olympic Gold Medal, ever. And, he has also beaten Phelps' closest rivals - South Africa's Chad Le Clos and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh - with whom Phelps had amazingly clocked a 3-way tie for the Silver. Schooling, as a young kid, had met Phelps in 2008, and asked for his autograph. Little did he know, that some 8 years later, he would beat his own idol, long adored by the world as the greatest Olympian, ever.

Joseph Schooling beats Michael Phelps to claim #SIN's first Olympic #gold: https://t.co/oaQto1Lvgl pic.twitter.com/Uj86JP3ikb
— CNN Sport (@cnnsport) August 13, 2016