Paralympic gold medalist Yip Pin Xiu receives honorary degree from alma mater SMU

Ho Yoon Sim

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SINGAPORE - Paralympic swimmer Yip Pin Xiu returned to her alma mater on July 28 to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws from Singapore Management University (SMU), in recognition of her sporting achievements and contributions to society.

The 34-year-old national athlete is the youngest recipient of an honorary degree from the university.

Yip had graduated from SMU in 2017 with a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in political science.

“The wonderful thing about graduation is you leave with a degree after years of hard work. You also leave with the opportunity to decide what kind of person you want to become,” she said to the 2026 graduating cohort of 3,857 students.

In her speech at the opening commencement ceremony held at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Yip spoke about the support she received from her family that helped her rise above naysayers.

“I had to learn how to separate the limits that existed in the world from the limits that existed only in the minds of others,” she said.

At two years old, Yip was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes her muscles to progressively weaken. It eventually made her lose function in her hands and legs.

That did not stop her from becoming one of Singapore’s most decorated athletes.

On 15 September 2008, she made sports history by becoming the first Singaporean to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.

Today, Yip is a seven-gold Paralympic champion and eight-time world champion, holding multiple world records in S2 backstroke swimming events.

Her sporting feats inspired the Yip Pin Xiu Scholarship, a bond-free award that SMU established in 2016, which supports elite student-athletes with outstanding international achievements.

Beyond her accomplishments in the pool, Yip actively championed for greater inclusion, accessibility and equity. She worked with governmental and community organisations to advance opportunities and support for persons with disabilities.

She is the vice-chairperson of The Purple Parade, Singapore’s largest ground-up inclusive movement, and serves as a board member of the Singapore Disability Sports Council.

During her tenure as a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2018 to 2020, Yip advocated on issues such as sports and the well-being of vulnerable groups. Her call for parity in the cash incentives for gold medallists at the Paralympics led to the sum being doubled to $400,000.

She brought attention to challenges that people with disabilities may face in accessing information, food and other essentials during the Covid-19 pandemic, and spoke out against campus sexual violence and workplace harassment.

In a citation, SMU president Lily Kong said that Yip “has brought honour and distinction to Singapore, elevating the nation’s standing in elite sport while redefining what is possible in the face of adversity”.

She added that Yip has surmounted significant physical challenges with quiet determination, discipline, and resilience.

“Her achievements are not only measured in medals and records, but also in the inspiration she offers to people from all walks of life – demonstrating that limitations can transcend through courage, perseverance, and hard work.”

Towards the end of her speech, Yip said: “As graduates, you have spent years learning about markets, incentives, the many forces that shape the world around us. But there is one concept I wish we could all study a little more deeply and that is the concept of bias.

“We make quick judgments based on someone’s appearance, their background, their nationality, their religion, their gender, their disability, their education – anything that is essentially different from ourselves.”

She cautioned against building a world where everyone thinks the same way.

“That is not unity. That is simply being comfortable,” she said. “Unity means that despite our differences, we still choose to see each other as human beings first. And I believe that is something the world desperately needs right now.”