Category: Players

Character Introduction

Lin Dan, Han nationality, born on 14 October 1983 in Linjiang Town, Shanghang County, Longyan City, Fujian Province, Chinese badminton men’s singles player, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2012 London Olympic Games badminton men’s singles champion, badminton history, the first set of Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup, Asian Games, Asian Championships, the All-England Tournament, All-World Games, and a number of World Badminton Federation Super Series championships, a double-ring Grand Slam player, known as China’s badminton brother, one of the four kings of the world in the early 21st century. He is the first player in history to win the Olympic Games, the World Cup, the Sudirman Cup, the Toms Cup, the Asian Games, the Asian Championships, the All England Championships, the National Games and many Badminton World Cup Super Series titles.

In 1988, at the age of 5, Lin Dan began to contact badminton. In the amateur class, Lin Dan was the only child who played with his left hand, and the coach therefore paid special attention to him. Although Lin Dan’s technical level was not the best in the class because he was too young, his physical fitness was relatively outstanding, and his basic movements, footwork, and front and back touch lines were all excellent after the class’s technical evaluation.

In 1992, 9-year-old Lin Dan successfully entered the Fujian Provincial Sports School, Lin Dan is not used to the life of the dormitory, miss his parents, so that his first semester in the provincial sports school is accompanied by tears.

In 1995, at the age of 12, Lin Dan won the Men’s Singles Championship in the National Junior Competition, and soon entered the Eighth Labour Brigade, becoming a soldier.

In 1997, Lin Dan travelled with the People’s Liberation Army** to Nanri Island to experience army life. There, professional badminton players have to go out for drills and stand guard with the troops every day, standing under the sun for tens of minutes, emergency assembly at night, etc. In addition to drills, they also have to work with the troops. In addition to drills, they also had to eat and live with the troops.

In October 2000, Lin Dan entered the Chinese national badminton team.

In March 2002, Lin Dan participated in the All England Badminton Open and won the 3rd place in the men’s singles. On 31 March, at the Korea Open Badminton Championships held in Yeosu, South Korea, Lin Dan, representing the Chinese team, won the men’s singles final with a 3:1 victory over Son Seung-mo of the South Korean team. On 22 August, at the age of less than 19, Lin Dan reached the No.1 position in the BWF rankings and remained there for a week.

On 28 September 2003, Lin Dan won the men’s singles final of the Danish Open Badminton Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, defeating his teammate Chen Yu 2-0, and on 16 November, Lin Dan won the final of the China Open Badminton Championships, defeating Malaysian Wong Choong-han 2-0, and on 7 March 2004, Lin Dan won the final of the China Open Badminton Championships.

On 7 March 2004, Lin Dan defeated Bao Chunlai in the men’s singles final of the Swiss Open Badminton Championships by scores of 15:12 and 15:6 to win the title. This was his fourth title in the five open tournaments he participated in, following his win in the Denmark Open last year. The official website of the tournament also calls Lin Dan as SUPER DAN, the reason is that watching Lin Dan play is a kind of appreciation.

On 15 March 2004, Lin Dan, who had already become the No.1 men’s singles player of the Chinese team, won his first All England Open Badminton Championships title after defeating Danish star Peter Gade, and on 16 May, Lin Dan played as the main player in the Thomas Cup, defeating Indonesia, who had been the monopoly of the tournament for five years, and helping the Chinese team to win the Cup again after 14 years.

In August 2004, Lin Dan suffered the biggest “Waterloo” of his career in the men’s singles competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He competed as the world’s top-ranked player, and suffered a cold defeat to Singaporean player Susilo in the first round of the tournament.

On 15 May 2005, Lin Dan and his teammates beat Indonesia by a score of 3:0, and reclaimed the Sudirman Cup, which had been taken away by South Korea in 2003.

In December 2005, the World Badminton Federation resumed holding the World Cup, Lin Dan successfully entered the final and won the fourth place in the Athens Olympic Games with 2:0 victory over Thailand’s Wensa Posana, won his first individual world championship title.

On 25 September 2006, Lin Dan won his first World Championships Men’s Singles title at the World Badminton Championships in Madrid, Spain. In the final, he lost the first set and won two consecutive sets to beat his teammate Bao Chunlai 2-1.

In August 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, Lin Dan was one of the most popular local athletes. His road to gold started with an easy 2:0 (21-16, 21-13) win over Hong Kong’s Wu Wei in the second round (round of 32); then he knocked out South Korean Park Sung Hwan 2:0 (21-11, 21-8) in the third round (round of 16); advancing to the quarter-finals, Lin Dan destroyed Danish veteran Peter Gade’s dream of an Olympic medal with a straight-set 2:0 (21-13, 21-16) win; entering the semi-finals, he encountered teammate Chen Jin, and after a stalemate, Lin Dan once again took his opponent in straight sets (21-13, 21-16); entering the semi-finals, he met teammate Chen Jin in straight sets. Medal dreams; into the semi-finals encountered teammate Chen Jin, after some stalemate Lin Dan again straight sets to take the opponent (21-12, 21-18) into the final; 17, the final face Li Zongwei, but there is a one-sided situation. Lin Dan suppressed Lee’s play from the start and eventually beat his opponent 2:0 (21-12, 21-8) to be crowned Olympic Champion without losing a set. Lin Dan thus became the first player in badminton history to win All England, World Championships, World Cup and Olympic gold medals.

On 17 May 2009, Lin Dan played in the Sudirman Cup in Guangzhou as the host country as the mainstay of the Chinese national team, helping the Chinese team to win the title and achieve a third consecutive Su Cup. Lin Dan won every match he played, including a 2-0 victory over his old rival Lee Chong Wei in the semi-finals, the first time Lin Dan had ever beaten Lee in a team match.

On 16 August 2009, Lin Dan became the first badminton player to win three consecutive World Championships, defeating teammate Chen Jin 2-0 in 45 minutes at the World Championships in Hyderabad, India.On 18 October, Lin Dan, representing the People’s Liberation Army**, won the men’s singles final of the 11th National Games, defeating Hunan’s Bao Chunlai 2-0.

On 18 April 2010, Lin Dan made his mark at the Asian Championships in New Delhi, India, winning the title after defeating teammate Wang Wiming 2:0, his first gold medal at the Asian Championships.

In November 2010, Lin Dan helped the Chinese national team win back-to-back team titles at the Guangzhou Asian Games, beating Hong Kong’s Eddie Hu and Indonesia’s number one Taufik 2:0 in the men’s team competition, and South Korean star Park Sung Hwan 2:1 in a come-from-behind victory. In the men’s singles, Lin Dan easily advanced to the semifinals and beat Park Sung Hwan 2:0, and then beat Lee Chong Wei 2:1 in the final to win the Guangzhou Asian Games men’s singles title. While becoming the Asian Games Men’s Singles Champion, Lin Dan also became the first Grand Slam player in the history of badminton to win the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Asian Games, Asian Championships, the All England Championships as well as a number of Badminton World Federation Super Series titles. On 26 November, Lin Dan was also named Most Valuable Player of the Guangzhou Asian Games. The award also began at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, where Lin Dan became the first Chinese player to win the Most Valuable Athlete of the Asian Games.

In August 2011, Lin Dan entered the World Championships in London as the No.2 seed, knocking out Lee Hyun-Il, Sho Sasaki and Peter Gade, before facing the in-form Lee Chong Wei in the final, who had only lost once all year. On 27 November, Lin Dan knocked out top seed Lee Chong Wei in the Men’s Singles Semi-Final of China’s premier Super Series tournament and beat teammate Chen Long in the Final, winning the Super Series title for the second consecutive tournament and becoming the first player to win the China Open for the first time in five consecutive tournaments. In December, Lin Dan moved to Liuzhou to participate in the first ever BWF Super Series Finals. In December, Lin Dan travelled to Liuzhou to compete in his first ever BWF Superseries Finals, where he defeated Chen Long, Kenichi Tien and Taufik in the group stage to reach the semi-finals, and then defeated Peter Gade and Chen Long to win the title and achieve the “Super Slam”.

In June 2011, Lin Dan’s wax figure was inducted into Madame Tussauds Shanghai, making him one of the only athletes in China to have his own wax figure.

On 12 March 2012, at the All England Championships, Lin Dan first avenged Chen Jin’s elimination of Taufik, then avenged Chen Long’s victory over Kenichi Tien, and finally defeated defending champion Lee Chong Wei to win the All England Men’s Singles Gold Medal for the historic fifth time, surpassing the four-time legend of Danish star Frost, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the 1980s (1982, 1984, 1986, 1987), and closing in on Indonesian Liang Hai-liang, the famous general in the 1968-1976 eight crown myth (runner-up in 1975), to become 36 years, the All-England tournament to win the most men’s singles players.

On 29 July, Lin Dan began his defence of his London Olympics title with a 2:0 win over Ireland’s Scott Evans in the group stage to reach the last 16; in the last 16 Lin Dan swept past former Olympic champion Taufik of Indonesia in straight sets again, 2:0 (21-9, 21-12); and in the quarter-finals Lin Dan fought hard in three sets to 2:1 (21-12, 16-21, 21-16) eliminated Japan’s Sho Sasaki. In the semi-finals, Lin Dan easily took down Korean player Lee Hyun-Il with a 2:0 (21-12, 21-10) to reach the final of the men’s singles at the Olympics. 5 August, Lin Dan fought through three sets in the final to beat his old rival, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, with a 2:1 (15-21, 21-10, 21-19) final reversal. Lin Dan became the first athlete to defend his title in the men’s singles badminton event at the Olympic Games.

On 11 August 2013, at the 2013 World Badminton Championships, Lin Dan, who had taken a year-long break from competition and had fallen to 286th in the world rankings, played as a wildcard player and eventually reached the men’s singles final. In the final, Lin Dan and his old rival Lee Chong Wei met again. After losing the first set 16-21, Lin Dan levelled the score at 21-13 in the second set. In the deciding game, Lee announced his retirement due to leg cramps while trailing 17-20, thus allowing Lin Dan to set a record of five World Championship titles.

On 28 September 2014, in the semi-finals of the men’s singles badminton event at the Incheon Asian Games, Lin Dan defeated Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei 2-1 in three sets to break into the final.On 29 September, in the final of the men’s singles badminton event at the Incheon Asian Games, in the Chinese civil war, Lin Dan lost the first set, and then pulled off two consecutive sets, reversed to take down Chen Long to successfully defend his title and capture his second consecutive Asian Games title.

On 13 March 2016, at the All England Open, the top event of the Badminton World Federation Super Series, Lin Dan reversed his teammate Xue Song 2:1 in the semifinals to reach the men’s singles final of the All England Championships for the ninth time, and became the first player in 38 years to reach the men’s singles final of the All England Championships for nine times, following the legend of the Chinese badminton world of Indonesia, Liang Hai Liang. The first player in 38 years to reach the final of the men’s singles event nine times. In the men’s singles final, Lin Dan edged Tian Houwei 2:0 to top the All England Open for the sixth time.

On 24 April 2016, at the BWF Golden Grand Prix China Badminton Masters, Lin Dan won the China Masters Men’s Singles title for the 6th time with a 2:0 victory over Chen Long. Lin Dan’s career title count reached 62, tying Li Zongwei’s record of titles won.

On 17 August 2016, in the Men’s Singles Quarter-finals of Badminton at the Rio Olympics, Lin Dan defeated Indian dark horse Srikanth 2:1 to reach the Semi-Finals. On 19 August, in the men’s singles badminton semifinals of the Rio Olympics, Lin Dan lost to Li Zongwei 1:2, failed to enter the final, and did not have the chance to win three consecutive Olympic titles in this event.On 20 August, in the men’s singles badminton bronze medal battle at the Rio Olympics, Lin Dan was defeated by Aselson 1-2, with the scores of the three sets being 21-15, 10-21, 17-21, and Lin Dan finished in 4th place.

On 19 March 2017, the World Badminton Federation Golden Grand Prix Swiss Open men’s singles final, Lin Dan 2:0 (21:12, 21:11) beat his teammate Shi Yuqi, breaking his personal title drought of 11 months. This is the “Super Dan” since last April China Masters won the first title, after the Rio Olympics title defence loss and personal image crisis, Lin Dan returned to the field of play finally responded to the questions from all sides with the title.

April 9, 2017, the World Badminton Federation Super Series Malaysia Open men’s singles final, Lin Dan and Li Zongwei staged the 38th Lin Li battle, and finally as the No. 7 seed to participate in the game Lin Dan 2:0 (21:19, 21:14) complete victory over the top seed Li Zongwei, the first time to win the Malaysian tournament title, but also ended the three consecutive defeats against Li Zongwei, the end of the Southeast Asian tournament career without a title! The record.

On 27 August 2017, in the men’s singles semifinals of the Badminton World Championships, No. 7 seed and five-time champion of the tournament, Lin Dan, started a strong dialogue with top seed and South Korean star Son Wan-ho, with Lin Dan winning in straight sets 21:17, 21:14 to advance to the final.On 28 August, in the men’s singles finals of the Badminton World Championships, Lin Dan was defeated by Denmark’s Axelsen 0:2 to finish as the runner-up and thus missed out on his sixth title of the event.

On 3 September 2017, in the men’s team final of the 13th National Games, the Beijing team represented by Lin Dan won the title with a 3:2 win over Fujian, which was also Lin Dan’s first individual National Games team title. Lin Dan beat Fujian Zhang Qi 2:0, helping Beijing to take a point. 8 September, the Thirteenth National Games badminton men’s singles title fight, the tournament’s three champions Lin Dan and first time in the final Shi Yuqi for the title, the results of the Lin Dan 21-12, 21-13 easy to win, successfully defending the title at the same time, he has also become the first person in the history of the Games to achieve the fourth consecutive men’s singles title. On 12 October, at the summary meeting of the Beijing Sports Delegation of the 13th National Games, he was awarded the honour of “Best Athlete”.

On 16 March 2018, in the semifinals of the 2018 All England Open Badminton Championships, Lin Dan won the 40th “Lin-Li Battle” between Lin Dan and Li Zongwei with 21:16, 21:17. On 18 March, in the men’s singles title match of the All England Open Badminton Championships, Lin Dan lost to Shi Yuqi with 1-2, and regretfully did not have a chance to win the seventh title of the All England Open. On 6 May, the New Zealand Open Badminton Championships, Lin Dan defeated Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie 2-0 in the final, breaking a 13-month “title drought” and winning the first title of 2018 and the 65th men’s singles crown of his career.

On 27 May 2018, the Thomas Cup final, China 3:1 Japan, after six years, won the Thomas Cup again. Lin Dan, a member of the crown**, also won his 20th career world title as a result.

On 6 August 2018, Lin Dan was named to the list of the Chinese sports delegation for the 18th Asian Games.On 23 August, he won the men’s badminton team title at the Jakarta Asian Games.

In April 2019, Lin Dan won the men’s singles title at the Malaysia Open Badminton Championships.

On 4 July 2020, Lin Dan officially announced his retirement, ending his career as a player.

Chinese badminton star Lin Dan was officially inducted into the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Hall of Fame in an offline ceremony held on 26 May 2023 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Lin Dan has had an extremely illustrious career, winning a total of 20 world championship titles in his 20 years of playing for the Chinese badminton team. These include 2 Olympic Championships, 5 World Championships, 6 Thomas Cups, 5 Sudirman Cups and 2 World Cups. In addition to the World Championships, Lin Dan has also won many IWF tournaments such as the All England, totalling 66 titles in his career.

Equipment Used

VOLTRIC Z-FORCE Ⅱ, DUORA Z-STRIKE, BG-80, VOLTRIC LD-FORCE Crystal Red, BG-65, NANOGY 95, BG66 ULTIMAX, AEROBITE, VOLTRIC Z-FORCE II LD Red/Yellow, F-90