gold

For those who do not yet know, Singaporean Paralympian Yip Pin Xiu won our first Paralympics Gold in the 50m backstroke on Monday, smashing the world and Paralympic records along the way. Yaay. It must have been amazing to hear the Majulah Singapura being played at the Water Cube (or at any other Olympic/Paralympic games) for the first time. History in the making.

Pity then, that unlike the Olympics, the Paralympics did not have live coverage on television. Not even when we had a national swimmer in the finals.

Nevermind that, it didn't even make it to the 1opm news; Pin Xiu's against-all-odds victory was reduced to just a mere blurb on the ticker tape on CNA.

And unlike the SGD1million promised to all athletes who obtain an Olympic Gold, Paralympians only stand to gain 10% of what able-bodied athletes can earn.

Which is sad, since a Gold is a Gold and ceteris paribus, I would think that the physically challenged athletes would have to overcome more obstacles to even make it to the starting blocks.

Pin Xiu might not even be able to make it to London in 2012 to defend her title because she suffers from muscular dystrophy.

Nevertheless, let us bask in the moment and rally behind all our Singaporean athletes. They'll be back tomorrow (18 Sep) at Changi T3 on SQ805. I'll be there. Will you?