Yong was born in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei, on 24 July 2001. Until the age of 11,[1] he studied for most of his junior year in this small nation on the island of Borneo. He didn't get a chance to work harder on some sets until the school holidays arrived.[2] On 2 October 2011, he competed in the Boys 10 & Under 100 LC Meter, Boys 10 & Under 100 LC Meter Backstroke, and Boys 10 & Under 100 LC Meter Freestyle events in the Brunei 100-meter sprint swimming championship on behalf of his school, Jerudong International School.[3]
He spent time in Melbourne throughout the summer, and later relocated to Perth in order to pursue his swimming career. While in Melbourne, he alongside his younger brother, Jayden,[4][5] trained with the Casey TigerSharks throughout the summer break, together with his family. "I started learning to swim when I was about three years old, and I just loved it," he said.[2][6]
He migrated to the Sunshine Coast in 2021 and joined the USC Spartans swimming club, following his coach, before coming back to Perth in 2022. He started swimming competitively at the age of eight, having learned to swim at the age of three. His career took off once he relocated to Perth to train at West Coast Swimming Club under Mick Palfrey. At the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth, he studies engineering.[2][6] With the support of the Student Athlete Development Program, he is pursuing postgraduate studies after earning a Bachelor of Science from UWA. Joshua describes his work as "helping athletes balance sport and study."[1]
Swimming career
At the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest, Yong participated in the men's and mixed medley relays as well as all three breaststroke events, marking his first international competition as an Australian. After that, he competed in his first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he advanced to the 50- and 100-meter breaststroke semifinals.[2] After cutting 0.16 off his previous personal best time of 59.99 at the competition, he began in 28.51 and ended in 31.32, tying Daniel Cave for the seventh-highest Australian performance in history.[7]
Then Yong broke the traditional Approach during the 2024 Swimming Australia Olympic Trials in Brisbane, first by swimming the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:07.40 to 2:08.08 seconds behind reigning Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook, and then coming in second to Sam Williamson in the 100-meter breaststroke. With a personal best time of 59.48, he almost missed the Olympic qualifying standard by a mere 0.01 seconds.[2]
