Why was Yip Pin Xiu named Young Woman Achiever?
At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, Yip Pin Xiu won Singapore’s first Paralympic gold medal. She was 16. In the same Games she also took a silver, finishing just behind Mexico’s Patricia Valle in 57.43 seconds.
After that Games she was named Young Woman Achiever of the Year by a Singapore magazine. The honour came in 2009, after her Beijing season.
How did she start swimming?
Yip was born in Singapore on 10 January 1992 and is the youngest of three children. She began swimming competitively at 12. By 2005 she was winning medals at international meets, including the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the Japan Paralympic Swimming Championships and the International German Paralympic Swimming Championships.
Her coaches have included Ang Peng Siong, who swam for Singapore at the Olympics, Mark Chay and Mick Massey. Fellow Paralympic swimmer Theresa Goh is a close friend and someone she has looked up to. Yip races in the backstroke sprints, in the S2 to S4 classes.
What has she won since Beijing?
She competed again at the London 2012 Paralympics and carried Singapore’s flag at the Parade of Nations at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she won the 100m backstroke S2 in a world-record 2:07.09 and the 50m backstroke S2 in 1:00.33. At the Tokyo Paralympics, held in 2021, she won both of her backstroke events at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. On 25 August 2021 she won the women’s 100m backstroke S2 in 2:16.61, ahead of Japan’s Miyuki Yamada and Mexico’s Fabiola Ramirez.
On 2 September 2021 she won the 50m backstroke S2 in 1:02.04. Yamada took silver again and China’s Feng Yazhu won bronze. She was named Sportswoman of the Year at the Singapore Disability Sports Awards 2022, her third time winning that award.
In Paris in 2024 she did it again. On 29 August she won the women’s 100m backstroke S2, and on 1 September she won the 50m backstroke S2. Paris took her total to seven Paralympic gold medals. Fellow para swimmers Sophie Soon and Toh Wei Soong were also in Paris, and Toh carried Singapore’s flag.
What else is she known for outside the pool?
From October 2018 to June 2020, Yip was a Nominated Member of Parliament.