Joshua Yong

While most kids get to take a break during school holidays, breaststroker Joshua Yong spent his breaks training hard. 

Joshua and his little brother Jayden grew up in Brunei and spent their summer holidays in Melbourne, training with the Casey TigerSharks. 

“I was in learn-to-swim from around the age of three and just loved it from the beginning,” says Joshua. “It’s the competitiveness that I love about it and having a brother to compete against all the time was a big win.” 

Joshua’s career blossomed when he moved to Perth to train with Mick Palfrey at West Coast Swimming Club. He first represented Australia at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest, where he competed in all three breaststroke events and both the men’s and mixed medley relays. 

Joshua made his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham, where he reached the final of the 50m and 100m breaststroke. 

At the Short Course World Championships in 2022, Joshua joined forces with Matthew Temple, Isaac Cooper and Kyle Chalmers to set a world record of 3:18.98 and win gold in the 4x100m medley relay. 

He picked up silver medals in 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke at the 2023 Australian Championships. In the 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Australian Championships on the Gold Coast, Josh claimed bronze, finishing behind Zac Stubblety-Cook and visiting Japanese ace Ippei Watanabe in a time of 2:07.62, ripping three seconds off his previous best. 

At the Australian Olympic trials in Brisbane, Joshua sealed his place on the team for Paris when he finished second behind Sam Williamson in what he now calls his pet event, the 100m breaststroke. He recorded a personal best time of 59.48, narrowly beating the Olympic qualifying mark by 0.01 seconds. 

“It's still surreal, I think,” he said after the race. “I guess every swimmer that's (made an Olympics) … it’s why we get into the water every morning to reach this goal, I guess to see it finally come to fruition, it’s surreal.” 

He went on to also finish second in the 200m breaststroke, behind Zac Stubblety-Cook.