Joseph Schooling Has A New Tattoo! And 5 Other Tattoo Ideas He Could Have Considered

"I'm honoured to tattoo Singapore's national hero"

By Annabelle Fernandez - published 17 Aug 2016

When tattoo artist Kelvin Leow received a message asking for an appointment on Tuesday morning, he did not know it was made on behalf of Singapore national swimmer Joseph Schooling.

Speaking to The New Paper, Mr Leow, 28, said he told the sender that he could only squeeze in a slot the next day as he was already fully booked.

As luck would have it - for both Mr Leow and his customer - a slot opened up after another customer postponed.

So, Mr Leow messaged the sender.

Minutes later, he found out that the customer who would be coming down was none other than Schooling.

The tattoo artist, who has more than seven years of experience, said: "It was a huge surprise for me. I didn't expect that Schooling would visit my shop."

Schooling, who had chosen to commemorate his historic feat of winning Singapore's first gold medal by getting himself a new tattoo, turned up at around 2pm with around 10 people.

His choice of tattoo? The Olympic rings, on his right bicep.

Mr Leow said: "Schooling was calm and smiling while he was getting inked. The job took about 30 minutes."

As Schooling walked into the Black Box Auditorium at the Singapore Sports Hub on Tuesday afternoon for a press conference, members of the media immediately noticed his new ink.

Covered by a sliver of plastic wrapped around his right bicep, the freshly-printed tattoo features the five coloured Olympic rings.

Joking that it was still "burning" and that he was trying "not to rub anything" on it, the 21-year-old revealed that he was only considering getting the tattoo done if he had made it to an Olympic final.

Even then, he had his doubts.

"I wasn't going to get this tattoo unless I was, in the very least, top eight," said Schooling.

"Even if I were in the top eight, if I didn't medal, I'd have some doubts.

"It means something special - anything I put on myself has a deep meaning that's important to me.

"So yeah, the goal was at least a medal before I thought I'd earned putting this tattoo on my body."

Said Mr Leow: "I'm honoured to tattoo Singapore's national hero."

From: The New Paper Singapore