On Monday afternoon, our ministers and parliamentarians gave our Paralympians a standing ovation in parliament for their achievements at the Paralympics:

WATCH: #Parliament gives #OneTeamSG Paralympians standing ovation in recognition of their achievements https://t.co/5kq2FkqDPe pic.twitter.com/RAcQFWO72e

— Channel NewsAsia (@ChannelNewsAsia) November 7, 2016

In her parliamentary motion to congratulate the paralympians, Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, said

"Beyond medals, each Paralympian has shown us what it means to be a champion –- to be counted among the world’s best, and fly our flag high at the world’s biggest stage for para sports.

These 13 extraordinary athletes have shown us that with hard work and sacrifice, we can realise our dreams. Their achievements also exemplify how a nation as small as ours can punch above its weight."

Minister Tan Chuan-Jin paid tribute to the paralympians, and said that they have "played an instrumental part in our journey to become a better people and a better society".

Tan concluded that they have helped Singaporeans "become better selves and perhaps in turn, to begin to build a better Singapore".

And indeed they deserved all these compliments -- to recap the details of what they achieved:

- We sent our largest-ever contingent of para-athletes to this year's Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (13 athletes, vs eight for London 2012);

- We attained our best-ever medal haul (two golds, one bronze courtesy of Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh) at any Paralympic Games.

But to appreciate just how impressive their achievements are — even for those who didn't win medals, we wanted to share some really impressive nuggets of info we picked up from the speeches a few members of parliament (MPs) gave in tribute to their journey:

Nurulasyiqah Taha, Toh Sze Ning, Boccia players

1. They missed Bronze in the BC3 Mixed Pairs event, but on the way up, they put up a stupendous performance, beating the London 2012 Gold and Silver medal players from Greece and Portugal.

Nur Syahidah Alim, Archer

2. Our first archer ever to represent Singapore at the Paralympics, Syahidah trained six hours a day, six times a week.

3. During the tournament, problems with her stool impacted her stability, but she fought on and lost to the eventual Bronze medallist by just two points.

Laurentia Tan, Maximillian Tan and Gemma Rose Foo, Equestrians

4. We had high hopes for the equestrians, but they went in with crazy injuries — Laurentia Tan, who already has four Paralympic medals to her name, had a spine injury (as if cerebral palsy and profound deafness isn't enough working against her), while Maximillian Tan was dealing with a hip joint injury, and Gemma Foo ruptured a spleen. 

Yet, they all persevered and competed anyway, instead of dropping out of the competition.

Norsilawati Sa'at, wheelchair racer

5. First thing to know about her: she's 39.

6. She took a four-year break from wheelchair racing, only coming back last year — despite that, she still qualified for the Paralympics, trained six times a week while working as a freelance web designer.

7. She made a personal best time in the 400m event, even though that wasn't her main one (the 100m race).

Jovin Tan and Yap Qian Yin, sailors

8. The two faced harsh weather and seas so rough that they had to be withdrawn from the competition for safety reasons even though they really wanted to soldier on.

Theresa Goh and Yip Pin Xiu, swimmers

You guys know them and their journeys so well that we aren't even going to put their real pictures here. Our medal-winning heroines of the Rio Games, the two girls have rocketed para-sports firmly back into the public eye. Need we say more?

There are other stories of these awesome young people, but words won't adequately describe the sheer greatness of what they have achieved, medals or not.

And we're real glad due tribute was paid to them in Parliament :)

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Top image from Team Singapore Facebook page.

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