RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 14 — First it was nasi lemak, chicken rice, bak kut teh and laksa.

Now Singapore has claimed another Malaysian-sired product as their own — and he has gained them their first Olympic gold medal.

Joseph Schooling, son of May Yim of Ipoh, broke the Olympic record in Rio on Thursday when he clocked 50.39s, nearly one second ahead of the great Michael Phelps who finished joint second with South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, after all three touched the wall in 51.14s.

It’s unfair to try to claim Schooling as Malaysian, as some back home would inevitably try. Remember Nick Kyrgios and the hoo-ha that surrounded him simply because his mother was from Shah Alam.

But Schooling can be used as an inspiration for our swimmers and he is someone Welson Sim looks up to.

Speaking before the 100m butterfly final, which Schooling qualified for in the fastest time, Welson said: “A Singaporean topping the qualifiers and reaching the final is amazing. It’s time we qualify for a final too.

“This is my first Olympics and I’ve learned so much and am proud of what I’ve done.

“I was nervous for my first event and that’s why I didn’t do too well. But once I settle down, I got better.”

In his 1,500m freestyle yesterday, Welson clocked 15:32.63s to break his personal best by 0.04s which was set in Barcelona in June.

That, however, was still long way off the national record of 15:23.61s set by Jeffrey Ong in 1991 and he was more than 25 seconds behind winner Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia.

In his other two events, Welson fell short in the 400m when he clocked 3:51.57s. His national record is 3:50.40s.

He equalled his national record in the 200m freestyle when he clocked 1:47.67s.

His next mission is the Asian Championships in Tokyo in November which he said would be the first step in his preparations towards the 2020 Olympics.

“I’ll continue swimming in all three events and hopefully qualify in all three for the Tokyo Games,” said the 19-year-old.

Malaysia’s campaign in swimming has now ended as Phee Jinq En competed in the women’s 100m breastroke last week where she failed to break her national record.

Singapore has got its first Olympic gold medal in any sport.

How long before Malaysia joins the club?