AUSTIN — Under the grandstands at the Olympics, in a quiet, walled-off corner of the swimming facility a short walk from the pool and just beyond the spectators’ view, event organizers place a couple of rows of plastic chairs and a TV screen.

This is known as the “ready room.”

Four years ago in London, that was where a teenager named Joseph Schooling realized he was nowhere near ready for any of it.

Most of his life had led him there. From the first time he paddled through a pool in Singapore with his mom in a panic about her “water baby,” to the miserable months he had spent in a boarding school half the world away from home, the Olympics were his destiny.

But that day in 2012, in the final moments before his heat in the 200-meter butterfly, Schooling found himself in the field of vision of American superstar Michael Phelps. That was enough to remind him that he was 17 years old, and that he was about to swim against grown men, and that he was going to lose.

“He just stares into your soul,” Schooling said.

More Information Summer Olympic Games When: Aug. 5-21 Where: Rio de Janeiro Who: 207 nations participating (8,255 athletes confirmed, more than 10,500 expected) What: 306 events in 208 sports Online:rio2016.com

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Earlier this month at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite, the gaze of the biggest legend in swimming proved to be less intimidating. Schooling, now a decorated college swimmer at Texas with a host of national records, faced Phelps again at UT’s Jamail Swimming Center.

Four years after he failed to make it out of his first Olympic heat, Schooling stunned Phelps by seven-tenths of a second in the 100-meter butterfly, winning the event with a time of 51.58 seconds.

Yes, it was just an exhibition. And yes, it will matter a lot more if Schooling is able to repeat the feat against Phelps at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro later this summer.

But for the the kid who might be the most prolific male athlete at UT — co-Division I swimmer of the year and winner of four individual NCAA championships — it was a breakthrough nonetheless.

“It’s a big deal,” Longhorns swimming coach Eddie Reese said, “because Michael Phelps doesn’t lose very often.”

If that stuff isn’t heady enough for a college sophomore who just turned 21, there is this:

Once he completes his races at his second Olympics this summer and possibly accepts a medal or two, he’s scheduled to return to his home country and report for a mandatory national service in the Singapore army.

According to Singaporean law, a two-year stint as a full-time national serviceman — in either the military, national police force or the civil defense force — is required of all male citizens at the age of 18. In an almost unheard-of decision three years ago, the government granted Schooling a deferment until after the 2016 Olympics.

His mother, May Schooling, said the family is hoping he will receive another one to allow him to continue his college studies and swimming career in the United States.

“But we don’t know yet,” she said.

From the beginning, May and Colin Schooling found themselves exploring all kinds of unfamiliar territory with their only child. When they couldn’t keep him out of the water as a toddler, they had to find a swimming teacher in Singapore who would work with a kid younger

than 5.

Then, after a 6-year-old Joseph won gold medals in all nine events he entered at their local club, his parents searched for better competition and better instruction. It wasn’t easy.

“In Singapore, the swimmers are brought up by the parents, not the country,” said May, who along with her husband runs a successful trading company. “Nobody knew what high-performance coaching was.”

Joseph Schooling came from an athletic pedigree — his great uncle, Lloyd Valberg, was Singapore’s first Olympian as a high jumper in 1948 — and even at a young age was clearly one of his nation’s up-and-coming athletic stars. But in order to reach his potential, he needed to leave the country.

His parents did their research and decided the best place for him was the Bolles School, a Florida academy renowned for producing elite swimmers. As an eighth-grader, Schooling left home, came to the United States and lived in the dormitory. It didn’t go well.

“I hated everything,” Schooling said. “It was hard.”

His parents endured their own pain.

“We realized, our son is going to grow up, and we’re not going to know him,” his mother said.

So they bought a house in Florida, and decided to live there with their son throughout his high school years. As citizens of Singapore, visas allowed them to stay in the United States only three months at a time, so they took turns. One parent would run the business back home while the other raised their teenager in Florida, and then they would switch places.

By the time Schooling started looking for colleges, he had already represented Singapore in the Olympics, and was coveted by every major program in the country. He chose UT over Florida, Michigan and California, and immediately became one of the Longhorns’ stars on back-to-back national-title teams.

Reese, who has coached UT to 12 championships, called Schooling “one of the toughest racers in the world.”

“I don’t want to saddle him with a future,” Reese said. “But whatever he decides to do, he can do.”

Eventually, Schooling said, he would like to race until he’s “29 or 30,” and hopefully compete in the Olympics through 2024. He has already qualified for this year’s Summer Games, and even after beating Phelps, he said his goal is simply to medal.

“Any color will do,” Schooling said.

And when it’s time to walk into the ready room? This time, Phelps won’t find Schooling’s soul so easy to permeate.

“I thought I was ready (in 2012), but the reality is I wasn’t even close to being in that league,” Schooling said. “It’s different now.”

mfinger@express-news.net

Twitter: @mikefinger