Sixteen years, 7 Paralympic golds, one exceptional champ

Pearl divers, mermaids, pirates, submariners, wreck explorers, marine biologists. These are Yip Pin Xiu's distant cousins. People of the land who are in their element in liquid.

- Rohit Brijnath

"Water has shaped me," says the Paralympic swimmer quietly from Paris.

"Who I am is because of water."

Water gave her freedom. "I could do anything anyone else could do. There was magic in there. On land I needed help, in the water I was the same as anybody."

As an adult she's a poised, powerful advocate for people with disabilities, but "as a kid it was important for me to feel that way.

When kids feel different it really hits their self esteem".

Freedom in water morphed into confidence, power, speed and medals. Medals enough to overload a safe. Medals first won when she was 16 in Beijing 2008.

Medals won across a span of 16 years. Medals which make us take her a little for granted.

Oh, what, the Paralympics is on? Shrug. Time for Yip gold.

In Paris, she wins again, a sixth gold and a seventh, as if the extraordinary is at her command.

But we see only the race, we don't see her in Paris, lying in bed after the first gold in the 100m backstroke, her hand on her head. "I felt so many different emotions_ I suddenly felt overwhelmed. I exhaled deeply. 'Oh my god, I won by 0.06 of a second"."

She never talks medals, but instead wakes up every morning for that medal. "I put some pressure on myself to do well. It's still what I wanted. Physically it's always difficult, but it was also mentally and emotionally difficult."

Then she laughs.