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By Chia Han Keong
THREE days ago in Beijing, Yip Pin Xiu missed out on a Paralympic gold by a single stroke in 50m freestyle (S3) final.
Yesterday, however, the Singaporean made sure there would be no such close shave in her pet event, the 50m backstroke.
She won the Republic's first Paralympic gold in emphatic style, winning by a staggering 7.32sec over second-placed Fran Williamson of Britain.
China's Xia Jiangbo clinched bronze.
A stunned Yip told my paper after the race: "I'm still at a loss for words.
"I'm very excited. It's a dream come true for me."
The 16-year-old clocked 58.75 ? enough for the gold in the final.
But she did even better during the morning heats, as she broke her world record of 1min 0.8sec, lowering it by more than 2sec to 57.92.
No other finalist recorded faster than 1:06.
Said Yip: "After the heats, I kind of expected I could do well and win the final.
"Still, I'm really happy to make the most of today."
She had already clinched a silver medal in the 50m freestyle last Saturday, while also breaking the event's world and Paralympic record.
Despite clocking the world's fastest time of 57.04 in the heats, she lost out to Mexico's Patricia Valle by a narrow 0.38 margin in the final.
In all, it is a magical debut Paralympics for the Bendemeer Secondary School Secondary Four student, who was born with muscular dystrophy.
Her physical condition deteriorates slowly, as her skeletal muscles weaken and degenerate progressively, but is expected to stabilise when she reaches the age of 20.
Her fist-like hands and weak wrists cannot catch much water, and so cannot propel her like boat oars. Thus, she compensates with super-fast strokes.
Yip's head is also tilted back and submerged, so that her hips can rise higher in the water, reducing the drag created by her limp legs.
Even before Yip's feats, Singapore had already recorded its best Paralympic performance.
Equestrian Laurentia Tan clinched two bronzes in the individual test and individual freestyle test events, the first medals won by an Asian rider.
Another Singapore Paralympic swimmer, Theresa Goh, finished seventh in the 50m freestyle (S5) heats yesterday morning.
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