“Being able to step on the podium in Paris was a dream come true,” says Chan Yui-lam, who won silver in the women’s 100-metre butterfly S14 swimming event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics; and with a time of 1:03.70, she broke her own Asia record of 1:04. The S14 event is for swimmers with an intellectual disability. While she isn’t new to champion status—at the 4th Asian Para Games in October 2023, she became the most decorated Hong Kong athlete, with two golds and three silvers—she says: “The road towards [the Olympic medal] wasn’t easy.”
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Chan missed out on a place in the top three by a mere 0.15 seconds. She overcame these mental challenges by “telling myself I had come fully prepared and that…
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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2024