Para-swimmer Yip Pin Xiu does a “three-peat”, winning gold for Singapore at Paris Games after Rio and Tokyo

Congratulations are pouring in for Team Singapore para-swimmer Yip Pin Xiu after her golden feat at the Paris Paralympic Games 2024. She won the Women’s 100m Backstroke S2 final.

“Congratulations Yip Pin Xiu on winning gold in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S2 final! Pin Xiu’s success is not just a personal triumph. It’s a celebration for all of SG,” wrote Prime Minister Lawrence Wong this morning. “Thank you for flying our flag high – a shining example of what it means to push the limits and never give up!”

Yip was under a lot of performance pressure — the weight of success — as she had also won gold for Singapore in the same event at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics, held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Tokyo (Japan), respectively. This victory in Paris made it a “three-peat”.

A CNA report quoted the 32-year-old gold-winning para-swimmer as saying, “I don’t even have words for it. The emotions haven’t really touched me, but for now I’m just… very relieved.”

She told CNA, “I’ve been training very hard (with) my coach, with my team… The pressure this time round to do a three-peat, even on myself, has been quite a bit.”

Also the world record-holder in the 50m backstroke S2, Yip competes in that event next at the Paris Games.

She told CNA, “For me, the main race really is the 100m. So to finish this today with good results, I think it [has] been phenomenal. [For the] 50m, I’m just going to give my best and swim my heart out, and we’ll see what happens.”