Yip Pin Xiu Won Her Second Gold Medal in Tokyo Paralympics 2020

2021-09-03 , 11:00 am

For the last week or so, we’ve seen some real-life superhumans at work.

The athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, like their predecessors, have wowed the world with their display of skill and perseverance.

A competition for the world’s best athletes with disabilities, it kicked off on 24 Aug, a couple of weeks after the Olympics concluded.

We, unfortunately, couldn’t secure a gold medal in the Olympics, but we’ve already gotten two in the Paralympics.

And it’s all thanks to one 29-year-old woman.

Yip Pin Xiu has successfully defended her title in the women’s 50m backstroke S2 final at the Tokyo Paralympics, winning gold once again.

She previously won the event in the Rio Paralympics back in 2016. This time, she clocked a time of 1:02.04.

Yip also matched her feat in Rio Paralympics for the 100m backstroke S2 event, by winning gold at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre last week for that event.

Singapore’s First Gold Paralympian

Yip first made history in 2008 at the Bejing games when she became Singapore’s first Paralympic athlete to win a gold medal.

There, she came in first for the women’s 50m backstroke S3 event. But that was merely the beginning of Yip’s triumphs.

In 2016, the 29-year-old won two gold medals, one in the 100m backstroke S2 event, and another in the 50m backstroke S2 final.

She also broke the world record for both events, including timing of 2:07.09 for the 100m event.

Yip, who was born with muscular dystrophy, has also won numerous World Championships and Asian Para Games.

Last month, she was named Sportswoman of the Year at the Singapore Disability Sports Awards.

How fitting.

For those who don’t know, the Paralympics is a major international sporting competition featuring athletes with a range of disabilities.

This includes:

The word “Paralympics” is a portmanteau of the Greek preposition “para” – meaning beside or along – and “Olympics”.

At the moment, China is far ahead of everyone else in the rankings, winning a total of 167 medals.

This includes 77 gold medals, 46 silver medals, and 44 bronze medals.

Ten Singaporean athletes have been fielded for the 2020 Paralympics, with four making their debuts.