2024 ST Athlete of the Year nominee: Yip Pin Xiu

Q: What do you love about swimming?

I started off loving swimming because it gave me such a huge sense of freedom being in the water. People could not see that I had a disability. I still love being in the water. I still love being able to exercise, being able to get my heart rate very high, being able to be fit and being able to impact so many lives.

Q: In what way does winning become harder?

When the pressure to win is really high and you think about it a lot more than you should be. I think a healthy amount (of thinking) is when you do the right steps to win. The unhealthy amount is just thinking about it and not doing the right steps to get the win.

It has become more challenging over the years, but there are two sides to this. As I get older I’m more equipped to understand the process. But also the more experience I have, the more pressure I put on myself.

Q: How much do you practise?

Practise doesn’t stop. I think it’s also about sustainability, balancing recovery and rest and getting the right amount of intensity into training. There’s always something to work on. If it’s not the stroke, it’s the turn, it’s the start, it’s the stroke rate. There is always something I can improve on and after working on it for so many years I’m still not perfect.

Q: Were you nervous at the 2024 Paris Paralympics?

I think nervous is just a very small emotion to how I was feeling leading up to the Games. There was also joy and happiness, but there was also a lot of stress and tension.

Q: What’s the thrill of being at a Paralympics?

The thrill is like nothing I can describe. You take four years to prepare for the race. You see everybody progress throughout the four years. But the race is really the line whereby it says that, ‘OK, you’re done with this cycle, let’s see how you did in the past four years. This is your final report card’. And there is so much excitement in it.

Q: What did you discover about yourself in 2024?

That being competitive is not my only nature now, but it’s also many other layers of a person that I am. I’m still competitive, but also give room for all the other parts of me to be the person that I am. So not only competitive for myself and my sport, but also serving the community a bit more. To want to move and advance things forward as best as I can in whatever capacity I can.

I think the effect I’ve had is that people see what I’ve done and how I’m still able to do this over the years.

Q: How cool was it to see a waxwork of yourself at Madame Tussauds?

It was very, very cool to see a waxwork of myself. It was super lifelike. I like to think that when I do something, I don’t do it half-heartedly. I want to give it my all. So when the team asked if they could do more sittings, I said, of course. So we did one sitting in Singapore and one sitting in the UK when I was already there for a competition. And because of the extra time and effort, it really came out so lifelike. So I think it is also a reminder for myself, that if you want to do things, to give it your all.

When people know that I have a waxwork, we pull up photos and they find it difficult to guess which is the real me and which is the wax me. Which is really, really funny. They’re just super shocked and amazed that they’re talking to somebody with a waxwork at Madame Tussauds.

Achievements in 2024: