Image: Friedemann Vogel/Getty Images
Singaporeans celebrated on Saturday, after 24-year-old swimmer Yip Pin Xiu took home a gold medal and broke the world record — also previously set by her — at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Yip won the women’s 100m backstroke S2 gold in a time of 2 minutes 7.09 seconds, smashing her own previously set world record timing of 2 minutes 8.09 seconds, which she set in a competition in Germany in 2008.
Yip Pin Xiu on the podium in Rio.
Image: Friedemann Vogel/Getty Images
Yip beat Feng Yazhu from China who won silver, and Ukraine’s Iryna Sotska who took bronze.
Yip Pin Xiu during her winning swim.
Image: EPA/BOB MARTIN for OIS/IOC
Rio is Yip’s third Paralympic Games, where she was Singapore’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony.
This isn’t Yip’s first Paralympic gold medal. She made history back in 2008 in Beijing, where she became the first Singaporean to win a Paralympic gold medal. She won the gold for the 50m backstroke S3 and silver for the 50m freestyle S3.
Yip Pin Xiu in Beijing.
The S3 classification refers to swimmers who don’t have use of their legs, which stay in the water from hips downward and increase the amount of drag on the swimmer’s body. Their hands are also not able to catch water effectively.
Yip was born with muscular dystrophy, which progressively weakens the muscles. As a result, she now competes in the S2 category.
Back home, Singaporeans celebrated her triumph. Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, posted a congratulatory message soon after the news broke.
She also got a shoutout from fellow swimming champ Joseph Schooling, who took home a history-making first ever gold medal for Singapore last month.
In the wake of the celebrations around Schooling’s win, people have been pointing out that Yip’s consistent swimming performance has been largely overlooked.
hello everyone what about yip pin xiu
— dalentine (@liquidmarbles) August 15, 2016
Singapore got 1st IOC gold medal when Yip Pin Xiu won in ’08 Paralympics – reminder that there are awesome Paralympians coming up!
— Kirsten Han (@kixes) August 13, 2016
Yip Pin Xiu is the first gold medalist, not Schooling…
How can they overlook that?!?— Dëmę (@Demigodz7) August 16, 2016
https://amazingreveal.com/blog/2016/09/10/singapore-paralympian-gets-swimming-gold-and-smashes-her-own-world-record/
No comments:
Post a Comment