Dear Pin Xiu,
It is September 2008, and you’ve just won your first Paralympic gold medal (in the S3 50m backstroke) and it was spectacular.
For the first time, Singapore’s national anthem was played in an Olympic arena. Parliament was stopped to announce it. The reaction from Singaporeans to supporters in the stadium was amazing. All the guys in our team even held hands and jumped into the pool in Beijing.
It really was amazing that everything we worked so hard for came to fruition.
So what next? You’re probably feeling like you’re in limbo now. You don’t know if this is something you want to continue doing. You’ve spent your entire childhood being an athlete, everything you’ve done this year was with swimming in mind and it was tough.
Now you’re 16 and have reached the pinnacle, so what more?
Eventually, you’ll understand that it’s a journey. Just because you’ve won one Paralympic gold doesn’t mean the next one is going to be easy.
Every journey is different, your body is different, the field is different, the environment is different. So you have to come up with new ways to be on top.
In the meantime, you will move on to polytechnic and you’ll study. It’s going to take you two years before you return to training proper, but that’s okay.
In 2010, you’ll win your first gold at the world championships, but you’re not going to be happy with the timing. That’s your wake-up call.
You’ll be given an ultimatum by your sports psychologist and immediately, your reaction to retirement is a firm no. You’ll return to training and it’ll be too late for London 2012 – you finish fourth – but that’s okay because that’s when you’ll realise you still want to swim.
You never thought you’d be able to go faster than you did in Beijing but you do. You will set world records in the S2 50m and 100m backstroke at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and do the double at Tokyo 2020.
In 2022, you’ll win your fourth and fifth world titles, something you would never have imagined. It will remind you that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it and follow through with actions.
Remember that consistency is important. Don’t skip the small details in training or recovery. This is the path we chose but also remember to stay in the present and try to have communities outside sport too.
It’s also the little moments that will keep you going. You’re doing this not just for yourself. People will come up to you when you’re taking the train, to chat with you and they’ll tell you they were motivated to do something when they’ve heard your story.
After Beijing, you’ll spark a national conversation on parity between able-bodied and disabled athletes. After Rio, you’ll do that again and after Tokyo a third time. You’ve managed to make an impact and yes, the journey is for yourself, but it’s also so much more.
Singapore has become a more inclusive society and there’s also an increased awareness of sport here. Now, people understand the importance of a holistic character and sport helps to build that. I don’t know if it started from us but we were part of that process.
Everything is working out, maybe not in the way you envisioned it to be, but, in some way or another, everything’s still good. One day, you’ll be on a magazine cover – yes it happens! – you’ll go sky diving, you’ll be a Nominated Member of Parliament.
You have no idea how good life is, you’re going to be on an adventure. So don’t worry and don’t think too much.
Love,
Your 31-year-old self
