Lin Dan
Lin Dan is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, five-time World Championships gold medalist, two-time World Cup champion, two-time Asian Games gold medalist, four-time Asian Champion, as well as a six-time All England champion. He led China to victory 5 times at the Sudirman Cup, 6 times at the Thomas Cup, and 3 times at the Asian Games men's team event.
Widely regarded as the greatest badminton player of all time, by the age of 28 Lin had completed the "Super Grand Slam", having won the full set of all nine major titles in the badminton world of his time: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Year-end Finals, Asian Games, and Asian Championships, becoming the third player to achieve this feat after Ge Fei and Gu Jun, and the only male player to ever achieve this feat. Of the 9 major events, he had won at least 2 of each events except the Year-end Finals where he won once in his only time participating in that event. He also became the first men's singles player to retain the Olympic gold medal by winning in 2008 and successfully defending his title in 2012.
Lin was dubbed "Super Dan" by opponent Peter Gade after winning the 2004 All England Open final, and the nickname has since been widely used by his fans as well as the media to refer to him, in recognition of his achievements. He was inducted to BWF Badminton Hall of Fame on 26 May 2023.
Early life
Lin was born in Fujian, China. At a young age, Lin was encouraged to learn to play the piano by his parents, and to be a pianist. However, he chose to play badminton instead. Having started his training at the age of five, he was scouted by the People's Liberation Army Sports Team after winning the National Junior Championships aged twelve, and was enlisted into the Chinese National Badminton Team in 2001, when he was 18.Career
Junior events
Lin emerged as a winner in the 2000 Asian Junior Championships in both the team and the singles events. He was also a member of the winning Chinese team and a boys' singles semi-finalist in the 2000 World Junior Championships.2001–2003: Senior debut and Four tour titles
2001 marked the start of then 18 year-old Lin's professional career. In his first final, at the Asian Championships, he was thrashed by compatriot Xia Xuanze. He then entered his first final in the IBF Grand Prix event at the Denmark Open, losing to Bao Chunlai.In 2002, Lin took his first title at the Korea Open. He was a member of China's 2002 Thomas Cup squad which defeated Sweden, Denmark, and South Korea to reach the semi-finals. However, Lin didn't play in the semi-final tie against Malaysia, which saw China's team tumble to a 1–3 defeat. Lin participated in another four tournaments without coming close to victory. He was knocked out in the first round of the Singapore, and Indonesia Opens, second round of the Denmark Open, and third round of the China Open. In October, Lin was defeated in the semi-finals of the Asian Games team competition which ended China's hope of a team gold medal.
Lin started the 2003 season with a third round defeat in the All England Open. He reached a final later in the year at the Japan Open but was beaten by his compatriot Xia Xuanze once again. Lin then made his inaugural debut in the World Championships in Birmingham, England. He breezed past Per-Henrik Croona and Przemysław Wacha in the first two rounds, but was beaten by Xia again in his third round match. After the world meet, he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Singapore Open, third round of the Indonesia Open, and second round of the Malaysia Open. However, Lin ended the season strongly by capturing the Denmark, Hong Kong, and China Opens, and finishing runner-up at the German Open.
2004: World #1, All England and Thomas Cup champions
Lin had a good start to 2004, earning the BWF's number one world ranking for the first time in February. He helped China win the qualifying round of Thomas Cup and then captured the Swiss Open. He won his first ever All England Open title by beating Peter Gade in the final. He reached the semi-final of the Japan Open before going off to Jakarta, Indonesia in May for the Thomas Cup campaign.In Thomas Cup, Lin helped China to an excellent start in which they thrashed United States and defending champion Indonesia 5–0 respectively to enter the quarter-finals. Lin then defeated Shoji Sato and Lee Hyun-il in quarter and semi-finals ties against Japan and South Korea respectively, each ending in 3–0 wins for China. In the final, he beat Peter Gade in straight games to give China the lead before the Chinese team eventually won three matches to one. China thus took the crown, ending a 14 years drought in the tournament.
Lin suffered setbacks later in the 2004 season when he was ousted in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open, and was reported to have a leg injury in mid-July, prior to the Olympic Games. Lin "crashed" in his first Olympic Games when, as the first seed, he was ousted early by Singapore's Ronald Susilo, who claimed Lin was "too eager to win". However, Lin bounced back with three titles at the Denmark, German, and China Opens, and ended the season as a semi-finalist at the Indonesia Open.
2005: Sudirman and World Cup success
Lin retained his number one world ranking during 2005, winning his second German and Hong Kong Open titles, as well as the Japan Open, China Masters, and World Cup tournaments. He also helped China recapture the Sudirman Cup when it shut-out both defending champion South Korea in the semi-finals and Indonesia in the final.Lin failed to retain his All England title, losing a three set final to teammate Chen Hong, and he was beaten in the final of the Malaysia Open by another rising star, Lee Chong Wei. In his bid to capture his first BWF World title at Anaheim California, he beat Kennevic Asuncion, Shoji Sato, Lee Hyun-il, and Peter Gade in succession to reach the final. There he was decisively beaten by a peak-form Taufik Hidayat. Lin was also eliminated in the semi-finals of the Singapore Open and the quarter-finals of the China Open.
2006: World Champion, Second All England and Thomas Cup triumph
Lin started the season by reaching the semi-finals of the German Open, and had a same result in China Masters and China Open. He failed to win the Malaysia Open in June, which saw his opponent Lee Chong Wei produce a superb display to save the title after being 13–20 down in the deciding game, and also lost to Taufik Hidayat in Asian Games final.However, he won six individual titles in the season. He recaptured the All England Open, and won the Chinese Taipei, Macau, Hong Kong, and Japan Opens. Most significantly, in Madrid, Spain that September he won his first world title after beating his compatriot Bao Chunlai in the final.
In May, Lin and his teammates had extended China's Thomas Cup reign by shutting out Denmark 3–0 for a second consecutive title. In October, he won his second World Cup men's singles title.
2007: Consecutive World title, Third All England and Second Sudirman Cup
Lin Dan entered 2007 with a loss to South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the round of 16 at the Malaysia Open. A week later, he captured the Korea Open by defeating Chinese teammate Chen Jin in the final. He went on to win the German Open and then the All England championships again, crushing compatriot Chen Yu 21–13, 21–12. In June, Lin Dan was part of the Chinese Sudirman Cup team that retained the cup after beating Indonesia 3–0 in the final at Glasgow, Scotland. Later in the season Lin defeated Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia and became the China Masters champion for 2007. In August, Lin extended his reign as the World Champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21–11, 22–20 in the final of the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lin Dan thus became the first man since Yang Yang to win back to back World Championships. He then won his third Denmark Open title, and ended the year by claiming his fourth Hong Kong Open title.2008: Olympic gold, Third Thomas Cup and Controversies
Lin started the season with a defeat in the final of the Korea Open to Lee Hyun-il. It was a match filled with controversy as Lin had a scuffle with South Korea's coach Li Mao after a line call dispute. Lin refused to apologise and received no punishment from Badminton World Federation after its probe of the altercation. In March, he suffered another defeat to his compatriot Chen Jin in the final of the All England Open, which was followed by press accusations that Lin "gave" the match to Chen in order to increase Chen's ranking points for Olympic qualification. In the following week, Lin won his first Swiss Open. At the Asian Championships, Lin was again accused of helping his compatriot when his loss to Chen Jin in the semi-finals ensured Chen's qualification for the Olympic Games.On 10 April 2008, Lin was involved in yet another controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and the media during an intra-squad tournament prior to the Thomas Cup. The incident was allegedly triggered by his unhappiness with Ji's arrangement of the starting line-up for the tournament. Despite the episode, in May Lin proceeded to win each match he played in the Thomas Cup until China's semi-finals clash with Malaysia when he lost rather tamely to Lee Chong Wei. However, China still managed to reach the final by edging Malaysia 3–2, then retained the cup against South Korea with Lin's win at first singles helping China to a 3–1 victory.
Lin won the Thailand Open, his last tournament before the 2008 Olympic Games.
In the Beijing Olympic Games, he beat Hong Kong's Ng Wei in the first round, Park Sung-hwan in the second round, and Peter Gade in the quarter-finals. He then beat his teammate Chen Jin in straight sets to set up a "dream" final against Lee Chong Wei. However, the final was a one-sided match as Lin beat Lee 21–12, 21–8, and became the first men's singles player to win the Olympic gold as a first seed.
Not back in action until the China Open in November, Lin again beat Lee in the final, before losing to Chen Jin once again in the Hong Kong Open. Lin was eligible to participate in the lucrative Masters Finals in December, but due to the withdrawal of the whole Chinese contingent, he didn't take part in the tournament.