DHAKA: Singapore’s first-ever double gold Paralympian has shared an emotional photo of herself celebrating with a veteran team mate who had just won her first medal after four Paralympics.
“The world does not need to see my ugly crying face... But the world needs to know how proud I am of you,” Yip Pin Xiu said in her Instagram post marking Theresa Goh's bronze medal win.
“You finally did it. You freaking did it”, reports the BBC.
Goh, who has been a Paralympian since Athens 2004, came third in her 100m breaststroke category in Rio on Sunday night, taking Singapore's second medal of the games.
Yip won Singapore’s first gold at Beijing in 2008, and on Saturday she shattered her own world record by two seconds in the 200m backstroke to take her second gold medal.
“Nobody knows our journey like us and I am so incredibly proud of you,” Yip said in her post to Goh.
“You are now a Paralympic medalist after 17 years of training and perseverance.”
But the women’s success has led to calls for Singaporean Paralympians to be given the same recognition and pay as Olympians.
In August, the city-state went into celebratory overdrive when swimmer Joseph Schooling beat his hero Michael Phelps to bring home its first ever Olympic gold medal.
He was given a hero’s welcome at the airport, a victory parade on an open-top bus and free flights for life on Air Asia, while numerous companies found a way to celebrate (or name-drop) Schooling in adverts. He was also given $1m Singaporean dollars ($735,000; £554,000) in prize money.
In contrast Yip is in line for S$160,000 before tax. Like Schooling, the money comes from the national Tote fund, and she will have to give a proportion back to the training council.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Yip on Facebook as proof that “with hard work, determination and grit, we can overcome the odds”.
But the overwhelming response in the comments below was for the prime minister to ensure she was properly recognized.
“Yip is bringing even more GLORY TO SINGAPORE then Schooling because she did not allow her disability to stop her from achieving her Gold. She Should Be Rewarded the Same $1million reward as Schooling," said one comment.
BDST: 2037 HRS, SEP 12, 2016
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