As the curtains closed on the Olympics, Paris then reignited with the 2024 Paralympics which kicked off on 28th August. We look at five athletes representing Singapore
While Max Maeder’s Olympic bronze medal brought much-needed joy and pride to our shores, it’s important to recognise that it was the first Olympic medal since Joseph Schooling’s iconic golden moment in Rio 2016. Singapore has however, consistently brought home Paralympic silverware every year since their first medal in 2008. As of 29th August 2024, this includes six golds, two silvers and four bronze medals — bringing the tally to 12.
This year, Singapore is represented by nine Paralympians, including three debutants and Paralympic champion, Yip Pin Xiu. Though Singapore’s medals so far have only come from swimming and equestrian, 2024 might be the year a new sport is added to the tally.
In no particular order, here are five para-athletes repping the red and white you should look out for.
Yip Pin Xiu
You should be of no stranger to the legend, Yip Pin Xiu, Singapore’s most decorated Paralympian. As of 29th August 2024, Pin Xiu is a six-time Paralympic gold medallist and five-time World Champion, currently holding two world records in the 50m backstroke S2 and 100m backstroke S2.
This summer, Pin Xiu has already clinched gold in the 100m backstroke S2 for the third consecutive time, and will be competing in the 100m freestyle S3 and the 50m backstroke S2.
The five-time world champion has Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, a motor and sensory neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system characterised by the progressive loss of muscle tissue and sense of touch across various parts of the body, a hereditary disease with no known cure that affects roughly one in 2,500 people.
Her first major medals came in 2008 in Beijing at the Summer Paralympic Games, where she achieved a gold medal in the 50m backstroke and a silver medal in 50m freestyle, breaking the world record at the time for both events.
Her most recent contributions to her medal tally came this year at the 2024 Para Swimming European Championships where she achieved gold medals in the 50m backstroke S2 event and the 100m backstroke S2 event. This brings her total medal count to 21!
Apart from her outrageous medal tally, she has also received numerous awards outside the pool, most notably the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) during the National Day Awards in 2016. She was also ordained the Sportswoman of the Year at the Singapore Disability awards three consecutive years in a row between 2019 and 2022.
She's already bringing home at least one gold — the question is, how many more?
Nur Syahidah Alim
From a shock ASEAN Para Games victory to becoming a world champion, Nur Syahidah Alim put Singapore para-archery on the map.
History was created right here on home soil. It’s the 2015 Singapore ASEAN Para Games, and Singapore sends its first ever para archers to a multi-sport event. As underdogs, it was highly unlikely for Singapore to win in the archery events, but Syahidah took it upon herself to prove doubters wrong. At the end of the games, she had clinched not one, but two golds, and her life was never the same.
Living with cerebral palsy, Syahidah competes in the women’s compound event and claimed the title of world champion when she soared to victory at the 2019 World Para Archery Championships. Though it was a relatively disappointing campaign in Tokyo the following year where she finished 9th, Syahidah made her comeback in 2022 by bagging gold at the ASEAN Games and again at the 2023 Asian Para Archery Championships.
She’s at her third Paralympics this summer, and aside from medal hopes, her big aim at the games is to have her success be a pivotal moment in helping to shift perceptions about para-sports in Singapore.
Speaking to Olympics.com, she said “As Paralympic athletes, we have the power to be able to show what we do in our training, in our competitions; to be able to share how things are going. I think from there, we'll be able to inspire and educate more of the public with what we do as a Para athlete.”
Toh Wei Soong
Toh Wei Soong may only be 25, but he’s already achieved more than most. The swimmer was first diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis when he was two years old, leading him to pick up swimming at six as a form of therapy.
Now, he is set to follow the tides of fellow swimmer Yip Pin Xiu as Wei Soong sets his eyes on a gold medal this summer.
Having won his first major medal, a bronze, at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Men’s 50m freestyle, he went on to win five more at the next Commonwealth Games and the 2023 ASEAN Para Games. It was in Tokyo 2020, that the swimmer made his Paralympic debut where he finished just a spot shy of making it to the podium.
Wei Soong, who trains under swimming legend Ang Peng Siong, became a 50m Butterfly Multi-class world champion when he bagged the gold medal at the 2024 Citi Para Swimming World Series on home ground. In an interview with Straits Times, Wei Soong sees the 2024 Paris Paralympics as his penultimate Paralympics, with the hopes of concluding his already decade-long career at the 2028 Los Angeles games.
Similar to Jonathan Tan at the 2024 Olympics, Wei Soong will be the sole men’s swimmer at the games and will be competing in four events, the 50m and 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 50m butterfly, all of which will be in the S7 class.
With his shot to stardom in recent years, it’s not really a matter of if he’ll medal in Paris, but what colour it’ll be. Whatever it may be, Wei Soong will be following his motto in life, to “just race!”.
Jeralyn Tan
One of three Paralympic debutants this year, Boccia player Jeralyn Tan is currently ranked number one in Asia, and fourth in the world. Having first picked up the sport 16 years ago as a student at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Jeralyn tasted her first major games at the ASEAN Para Games in 2015 and 2017, where she won a bronze medal in the Mixed Team BC1/BC2 event.
Jeralyn is currently Singapore’s only BC1 boccia player. The sport is classified into four classes, with BC1 being for athletes with severe activity limitations. BC1 boccia players do not use assistive devices, unlike players in BC3 who use ramps to roll the ball. Athletes in BC1 who have some leg control are also allowed to kick the ball.
It all skyrocketed for her in 2021, when Jeralyn clinched her first gold medal at the Asian-Oceania Regionals Championships and it didn’t stop there. Just last year, then 34-year-old Jeralyn and her coach and competition partner, Yurnita Omar, took down a string of tough opponents at the Póvoa de Varzim 2023 World Boccia Cup. Scraping through to the finals, the Singaporean came face-to-face with then world number one and champion, Vitoria De Oliveira.
It was an emotional 4-2 win for the duo, which earned Jeralyn her second World Cup title after previously winning the Montreal 2023 World Boccia Cup April that same year. It’ll be tough to recreate the feat at the Paralympics, but a spot on the podium is not too far on the horizon for the talented Jarelyn.
Laurentia Tan
Laurentia Tan won bronze medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games and was Singapore’s sole medallist at the London 2012 Paralympics, making her the first Singaporean Paralympic athlete to ever win a medal in equestrian sport and Asia’s first Paralympic equestrian medallist.
Laurentia developed cerebral palsy and profound deafness after birth. Taking up horse riding at the measly age of five, the sport initially served as a form of physiotherapy. Having completed her A-levels in the United Kingdom and completing a degree in hospitality management and tourism, Laurentia was invited to join the Singapore team for World Para Dressage Championships by the Disabled Association Singapore (RDA) in 2007.
It was at this very event that she did well enough to secure herself a qualification spot for the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games. Subsequently, at the Paralympics, she secured a third-place finish amidst fierce competition, narrowly missing out on a higher placed finish.
With several appearances at the Paralympics under her belt, Laurentia has accumulated 1 silver medal and 3 bronze medals so far.
Most recently, Laurentia achieved 6 medals just this year across several events, securing two first place finishes, two second place finishes in CPEDI3* Hagen a.T.W.Para Grand Prix Freestyle l and CPEDI3* MannheimPara Grand Prix Freestyle l respectively, and two third place finishes.
Outside of competition, Laurentia has been recognised for her achievements with public service medals from the state, the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat (commendable public service for achievement in Singapore) in 2008 and the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (valuable publc service or distinguished performance) in 2012.
Laurentia is set to begin her 2024 Paris Summer Paralympic Games on 3rd September, competing in both the individual and team events with Gemma Rose Foo and Hui’en Hilary Su.
The 2024 Paralympics is currently underway, and will culminate on 8th September. Competing in six different sports, Team Singapore is set to battle it out until at least the 6th of September with swimming and equestrian finals (subject to qualification) to follow on the 7th. Follow Team Singapore's socials for more updates.
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