SWIMMERS from Singapore

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Singaporean Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Singaporean Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Joseph Schooling (1995 - )

With an HPI of 26.35, Joseph Schooling is the most famous Singaporean Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages on wikipedia.

Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a former Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medal. His winning time of 50.39s broke multiple records at the National, Southeast Asian, Asian and Olympic levels. An alumnus of the Anglo-Chinese School, he subsequently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Texas Longhorns swimming team, one of the top collegiate swim programmes under two-time United States Olympic men's head coach Eddie Reese. He first qualified for the Olympics in 2012 after winning the 200m butterfly at the 2011 SEA Games. On 2 April 2024, he announced his retirement from competitive swimming to focus to his swim school and other business ventures.

2. Daniel Kowalski (1975 - )

With an HPI of 25.54, Daniel Kowalski is the 2nd most famous Singaporean Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Daniel Steven Kowalski (born 2 July 1975) is an Australian former middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200-, 400- and 1,500-metre individual freestyle events and in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he was the first man in 92 years to earn medals in all of the 200-, 400- and 1500-metre freestyle events. Kowalski, alongside Livinia Nixon, hosted the short-lived TV show Plucka's Place in 1997. Kowalski is perhaps best known for having been a perpetual runner-up to fellow Australians Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett, who were, respectively, the world's best 1500-metre freestyle competitors during the earlier and later parts of Kowalski's career. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Daniel's coaches included Denis Cotterell and Bill Nelson.

3. Kayla Sanchez (2001 - )

With an HPI of 9.33, Kayla Sanchez is the 3rd most famous Singaporean Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Kayla Noelle Sanchez (born 7 April 2001) is a Filipino-Canadian swimmer. A member of the Canadian national team until 2022, she has represented Canada at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic medalist. She is one of Canada's most prominent Filipino Canadian athletes.