“As a kid growing up in Brunei, I never thought I’d have the chance to represent Australia at an Olympic Games.” – Joshua Yong

Joshua – who made his Dolphins debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – was in disbelief as he punched his Olympic ticket to Paris in the men’s 100m and 200m breaststroke at the Australian Swimming Trials in June.

The well-travelled swimmer spent the majority of his junior years being educated in the small country of Brunei on the island of Borneo and it was only when school holidays hit that Joshua had the opportunity to double down on some hard sets.

Joshua and his family 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,” he said.

“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 then made his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham, where he reached the semi-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.

But it was at the Australian Selection Trials in Brisbane that Josh challenged the status quo.

Firstly by shadowing defending Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook in the 200m breaststroke – 2:07.40 to 2:08.08 – and then finishing second to Sam Williamson in 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.”

POD POP UP STAT: Joshua is an engineering student at the University of Western Australia and is a fan of anime, a style of animation originating in Japan.