Yip Pin Xiu now has seven golds and a silver across five editions of the Paralympic Games. - Photo: Reuters
SINGAPORE: Singapore swimmer Yip Pin Xiu made it a perfect two out of two on Saturday (Aug 31) (Sept 1, Singapore time), when she won the S2 50m backstroke final to claim her second gold at the Paris Paralympics.
She clocked 1min 05.99sec at the La Defense Arena to finish ahead of rivals Haidee Aceves (1:08.96) of Mexico and Spain’s Teresa Perales (1:10.95).
The 32-year-old claimed her first gold in Paris on Aug 29 in the S2 100m back, with Aceves and Italy’s Angela Procida winning the silver and bronze.
With this result, Yip has achieved a special three-peat of back-to-back titles in the S2 50m and 100m from Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She now has seven golds and a silver across five editions of the Paralympics.
A relaxed Yip, who was grooving to the music after collecting her medal, said: “I think seven is a really nice number, the team and I, we’ve worked really hard to get to where we are today.
“There was pressure coming into this but also a lot of support from the team and everybody around me back at home.”
When analysing her two races, Yip admitted that she had “less pressure” heading into the 50m race, but also attributed her win to a switch in strategy.
She said: “This time round, with it being a three-year (training) cycle rather than a four-year one, our training strategies were a bit different, so maybe that’s why my 50m was (won) by a greater margin.
“I did have less pressure for the 50m, I was going in with the mindset not of ‘I was going to win’ but more of whatever happens, happens, and to be able to get to the end of it with these two victories under our belts, there’s nothing else I can ask for.”
Yip had clocked 1:05.06 earlier in her heat to finish ahead of Mexico’s Haidee Aceves (1:08.75) and Angela Procida (1:08.79) The trio were the three fastest qualifiers among the 11-strong field.
She added: “I think a lot of people believed that I could do it more than I believed in myself and I’m just so grateful for the outpour of support and that I’m still able to do this for Singapore.
“And I think making it a three-peat for both the events was pretty crazy, I wasn’t expecting that, but I was just going into the Games to do my very best and show the world what we can do, even though we are a small country.”
Her double gold from Paris will see her collect a total of S$1 million as part of the Singapore National Paralympic Council’s (SNPC) Athletes Achievement Awards scheme.
The cash incentive for a Paralympic gold medal was raised in 2022, from $400,000 to $500,000, which is half the payout for an Olympic gold.
The scheme will run through till the end of the Paris Games.
When asked whether this would be her last Paralympics, Yip said: “At this point in time, I don’t know if I have the appetite for another one, but I just need to take a good long break and we’ll see after that.
“I’m still very passionate about the sport, not only in swimming (myself), but to help other people do well in it.”
In the boccia’s BC1 quarter-finals, Singapore’s Jeralyn Tan beat Brazil’s Andreza Oliveira 7-5 and will next face Japan’s Hiromi Endo in the semi-finals on Sept 1 at 11.55am (5.55pm, Singapore time). - The Straits Times/ANN
