SINGAPORE - Just 23 and already an Olympic champion, Joseph Schooling has a future full of possibilities - and one of those could be in politics.

In an interview with BBC World News on Thursday (Nov 15), Schooling was asked whether he would go into politics one day.

The swimming star responded: "Never say never, maybe."

If he does enter politics, Schooling will join the ranks of other former athletes who became politicians such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Manny Pacquiao and four-time South-east Asian Games gold medallist Ben Tan.

When asked about his goals for the Tokyo Olympics, Schooling said he wanted to achieve his best timing and to do his best. When pressed on whether he was aiming for another gold medal, he simply said: "We'll see."

He also revealed a number of other personal facts about himself: His favourite movie is Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, he prefers char siew to Texas Barbecue and, despite training five hours a day, he hates jumping into the cold swimming pool early in the morning.

Asked what his guilty pleasure was, Schooling said: "Local food that I shouldn't be having, because it makes me fat."

Schooling came in fourth in the men's 100m butterfly at the Fina Swimming World Cup Singapore on Thursday.