Yip Pin Xiu

Yip Pin Xiu

Yip as the flag bearer for Singapore at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Parade of Nations
Personal information
Nationality	Singaporean
Born	(1992-01-10) 10 January 1992 (age 25)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke Freestyle
Classifications	S2
Medal record Swimming Representing  Singapore Paralympic Games 2008 Beijing 50 m backstroke S3 2008 Beijing 50 m freestyle S3 2016 Rio 100 m backstroke S2 2016 Rio 50 m backstroke S2 IPC World Championships 2010 Eindhoven 50 m freestyle S3 2010 Eindhoven 50 m backstrokeS3 2013 Montreal 50 m backstroke S3

Yip Pin Xiu, PJG (Chinese: 叶品秀; pinyin: Yè Pǐnxìu, born 10 January 1992) is a Singaporean backstroke swimmer. She is a three-time Paralympic gold medallist and a one-time IPC gold medallist, with two world records in the 50 m backstroke S2 and the 100 m backstroke S2.

She has muscular dystrophy and competes in the S3 category for the physically impaired. Since 2005, she has won medals in international competitions such as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, Japan Paralympic Swimming Championships and International German Paralympic Swimming Championships. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the 50 metres backstroke and a silver medal in the 50 metres freestyle, setting world records in both events. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the 100 metres S2 backstroke, setting a world record for that event, and another for her 50 m split.

In honour of her feats at the Paralympic Games, she was conferred the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) during the National Day Awards ceremony and named "Young Woman Achiever of the Year" by local magazine Her World. Her achievements contributed to public debate about the treatment and recognition of disabled athletes in Singapore.

Yip was born with muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that slowly breaks down the muscles, and a nerve condition that affects eyesight. When she was five, she started swimming to improve her health and strengthen her muscles; nevertheless, by the age of eleven, she had lost her ability to walk and had to use a wheelchair. The youngest of three children in her family, she studied in Ai Tong Primary School and Bendemeer Secondary School, then graduated from Republic Polytechnic as back-up valedictorian and, as of 2012, is studying social science at Singapore Management University.