YIP Hor Man

Known as "Horman" to his Hong Kong teammates in the 1980s, Yip Hor-man represented Hong Kong in numerous international competitions.  Influenced by his father's passion for swimming, Horman learned to swim at age four.  He joined "Lai Tsun Swimming Society" for training at age eight and started his competitive swimming journey.  Under the guidance of coach SZETO Man-keung and CHENG Shun-lin, Horman began to win many medals during his secondary school days. 

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To further develop his swimming, Horman followed his elder brother to the "Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association" training base in 1982 to undergo more rigorous and systematic professional training.  Soon after, he became one of the members of Hong Kong Swimming Team.  At first, Horman's main stroke was breaststroke.  Since there were a number of strong breaststrokers on the Hong Kong team, he started to train his other strokes and finally settled on the backstroke as his main event from 1984 onwards.  In 1986, Horman broke his first Hong Kong record in the 100m backstroke and he began to establish himself as the "King of Backstroke" on the Hong Kong team.  Horman continued to train hard to chase his Olympic dream.

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In the following years, Horman represented Hong Kong at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, the 1987 Pan Pacific Swimming Championship in Brisbane and the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.  In 1989, Horman broke the 100m backstroke Hong Kong record with a time of 59.21 seconds in the Hong Kong International Swimming Competition (short course).  Horman made history by being the first swimmer in Hong Kong to finish the distance in under one minute.  Other than the 100m backstroke, Horman also held several other Hong Kong swimming records including the 50m and 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley and various relay events.

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From 1987 to 1989, Horman dominated open water swimming races in Hong Kong.  He won the New Year Winter Swimming Championships, International Silver Island Open Water Race and Cross Tolo Harbour Open Water Race for all three years.  Horman was crowned the men's division champion nine times in three years.

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In 1990, Horman retired from swimming and began to pursue his studies at University of Waterloo, Canada.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, with Honours, and majored in Environmental Sciences.  Upon graduation, he joined the Hong Kong Fire Services Department in 1994 and proudly continues to fulfill the mission of "Save those in Distress and Protect the Community" till today. 

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80年代的香港游泳隊友一般稱呼葉賀民為“Horman”。受父親熱愛游泳的影響，Horman自四歲開始學習游泳，八歲加入「勵進游泳會」接受訓練，開始他的游泳生涯。在教練司徒民強及鄭崇連的悉心栽陪下，Horman已在中學時期獲取多面游泳獎牌。

 

為進一步提升泳術，Horman在1982年跟隨哥哥進入「香港業餘游泳總會」接受嚴格及有系統的專業游泳訓練，其後成為香港游泳代表隊成員之一。起初他是以蛙泳作為個人主要泳式，但發現當時以蛙泳個為主項的泳手眾多，實在難以在香港泳壇上爭佔一席位，於是在1984年他改以背泳作為個人泳式。1986年，他首次締造出100米背泳香港紀錄，奠定他日後「香港背王」的稱號，並展開他多姿多彩的人生及邁向奧運的夢想。

 

隨後數年，Horman代表香港參與不同的游泳比賽及大型國際體育盛事，包括1986年愛丁堡英聯邦運動會、1986年漢城(首爾)亞洲運動會、1987年悉尼泛太平洋游泳錦標賽及1988年漢城(首爾)奧林匹克運動會。在1989年，Horman 在香港國際短池分齡游泳賽中，歷史性以59秒21打破100米背泳香港紀錄，是香港首位泳手突破1分鐘大關完成100米背泳，令他的游泳生涯再創下輝煌的佳績。除100米背泳外，他亦曾在其他游泳項目創下香港游泳紀錄，包括50米、200米背泳、200米個人四式及多個接力項目。

 

在1987年至1989年，Horman壟斷當時香港三個主要的公開水域游泳比賽，合共奪取9個男子組冠軍，包括: 元旦冬泳大賽、國際銀洲島渡海泳賽及吐露港渡海泳公開賽。

 

在1990年，Horman離開香港泳壇，並前往加拿大滑鐵盧大學修讀環境科學榮譽學士人學位。在1994年加入香港消防處至今，履行「救災扶危，為民解困」的使命。