Susi Susanti
Lucia Francisca "Susi" Susanti Haditono is an Indonesian retired badminton player. Relatively small of stature, she combined quick and graceful movement with elegant shotmaking technique, and is regarded by many as one of the greatest women's singles players of all time. She was the inaugural Olympic women's badminton champion and the first Indonesian Olympic gold medalist.
Career
Susanti won the women's singles gold medal at the [Badminton at the Badminton at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's singles|1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Badminton at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games] in Barcelona, Spain and the bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, United States. She retired from the world badminton circuit not long after her marriage, in February 1997, to Alan Budikusuma, who had also won a badminton singles gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Susanti was the most dominant women's singles player in the first half of the 1990s, winning the All England Open in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994, the World Badminton Grand Prix Finals five consecutive times from 1990 to 1994 as well as in 1996, and the IBF World Championships in 1993. She is the only female player to hold the Olympic, World Championship, and All-England singles titles simultaneously. She won the Japan Open three times and the Indonesian Open six times. She also won numerous Badminton Grand Prix series events and five Badminton World Cups. She led the Indonesian team to victory over perennial champion China in the 1994 and 1996 Uber Cup competitions. All of this came during a relatively strong period in women's international badminton. Her chief competitors early in her prime years were the Chinese players Tang Jiuhong and Huang Hua, and, later, China's Ye Zhaoying and the Korean Bang Soo-hyun.Susanti was inducted into the International Badminton Federation Hall of Fame in May 2004, and received the Herbert Scheele Trophy in 2002. She lit the flame at the 2018 Asian Games opening ceremony.
Playing style
Susanti was an extremely durable defensive player who liked to instigate long rallies to wear down her opponent's stamina and invite errors. That style was in contrast to most of the top female players of her time such as Bang Soo-hyun, Tang Jiuhong, Huang Hua, and Ye Zhaoying, who employed a more aggressive style.Susanti's matches against top-tier opponents were characteristically slow-paced and long, especially in the era of 15 points system when a player could only earn a point when she or he held the serve. Susanti relied on deep clears to the back line, limiting the chance of a fast-paced exchange, mixed with tight drop shots, forcing her opponent to cover the entire court. Susanti frequently covered her backhand side with overhead forehands, by relying on her quickness and back-arching suppleness. Relatively short, she often stretched her legs very wide to take low shots at the corners or away from her position. Developed from training, this leg-stretching, almost balletic maneuver became a signature pose which sometimes ended with a full leg split. In the later years of her career, Susanti incorporated more smashing into her repertoire, enough to throw off opponents expecting only a game of attrition.
Personal life
She is married to Alan Budikusuma, a men's badminton Olympic gold medalist and one of the top men's players in the history of the sport, a former Chinese Indonesian badminton player who excelled at the world level from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Together they have three children, Laurencia Averina, born 1999, Albertus Edward, born 2000, Sebastianus Fredrick, born 2003. When the eldest daughter was born, Indonesia was rocked by a series of civil outbreaks and violence. Susanti decided to name her daughter Laurencia Averina Wiratama, which means “peace”, hoping that she would bring about peace in the nation.In popular culture
A biopic in Indonesian based on Susanti's life story, entitled Susi Susanti: Love All directed by Sim F with Laura Basuki playing the titular role and Dion Wiyoko as Alan Budikusuma was released on 24 October 2019.Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Result | |
| Government of Indonesia Awards | 1992 | Tanda Kehormatan Bintang Jasa Utama | ||
| International Badminton Federation Awards | 2002 | Herbert Scheele Trophy | ||
| International Badminton Federation Awards | 2004 | Badminton Hall of Fame | ||
| RCTI Indonesian Sports Entertainment Awards | 2024 | Most Popular Legendary Athlete | Nomitated | |
| CNN Indonesia Awards, West Java | 2024 | Most Influential Figures in the Development of Indonesian Badminton | Won |
Achievements
Olympic Games
Women's singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Pavelló de la Mar Bella, Barcelona, Spain |  World ChampionshipsWomen's singles
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