RIO DE JANEIRO - On Aug 12, Joseph Schooling topped the heats and semi-finals of the Rio Olympics 100m butterfly event to become the first Singaporean man to reach an Olympic swimming final.

The nation will be rooting for him on Saturday morning (Aug 13, Singapore time) as the 21-year-old takes on the likes of Michael Phelps, Laszlo Cseh and Chad le Clos in the final in a bid to win that historic medal.

Here are eight things to know about Singapore's flying fish.

3. Schooling's favourite food is carrot cake - "the blacker the better".

4. Two years ago, father Colin had to rebut suggestions that Schooling, who is an Eurasian, was "foreign talent". Schooling senior spoke in a mixture of Malay and Hokkien to prove that he is indeed 100 per cent Singaporean.

7. He likes football - both real and virtual. His favourite team is Chelsea and he enjoys playing the Fifa series of computer games.