In the history of Chinese badminton, a total of 7 people have defended the Olympic championship. What is interesting is that these 7 people belong to different individual events, which just helped the national badminton to complete all five individual events for the only time.
Ge Fei / Gu Jun : Women's Doubles, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Badminton became an official event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The first time a Chinese player won the championship was in Atlanta 4 years later. At that time, Ge Fei/Gu Jun won the first Olympic gold medal for the Chinese badminton team. The two girls were both born in 1975 and both come from Jiangsu. Ge Fei has a calm personality and Gu Jun has a hot temper. They are a match made in heaven.
In the 2000 Sydney Olympics , this pair of sisters who are said to have never communicated with each other in life won the championship with their tacit cooperation. There is no suspense about defending their title this time, because before the Sydney Olympics, they set a new record in the badminton world: from 1996 to 2000, the two went without defeat in the international arena for four consecutive years and three months.
Zhang Jun/ Gao Ling: Mixed Doubles, Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.
The mixed doubles event became an official event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Zhang Jun/Gao Ling were the early overlords. Zhang Jun is on the fatter side, but has strong smashing power in the backcourt. Gao Ling can be called a wiper in front of the net and has a strong dominance among female players. More importantly, both of them have good personalities, communicate very smoothly, and work together seamlessly.
In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Zhang Jun/Gao Ling, who had not achieved any outstanding results in the world, unexpectedly won the championship. In the final, after losing the first game 1-15, they reversed and defeated Indonesian players Trikus/Xu Yimin 2-1. Athens Olympics , the ambitious team narrowly defeated the powerful British combination Robson/Eames 2-1 in the final and defended their title.
Zhang Ning: Women's singles, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing
Zhang Ning, a late bloomer, is a legend in the badminton world. He only got the opportunity to participate in the Olympics for the first time at the age of 29. With his strong offensive firepower, he won the 2004 Athens Olympics championship. In the final, she defeated the talented Dutch player Zhang Haili , who had been her opponent in the early days of her sports career.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 33-year-old Zhang Ning received the support of Li Yongbo and went to the Olympics again, successfully joining his teammate Xie Xingfang in the finals. At that time, Xie Xingfang, who was at the peak of her sports career, was even more favored, but Zhang Ning relied on her tenacious spirit to win the final 2-1, completing a great defense of her title.
Lin Dan: Men's singles, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London
Super Dan is a veteran of four Olympic dynasties. In 2004, he participated in the Athens Olympics as the top seed, but unfortunately suffered a first-round elimination. After that, he created his own era. Even with great opponents like Lee Chong Wei , he still won the Olympic championship in 2008 and 2012.
Before the 2016 Rio Olympics , the competition in the men's singles event in the badminton world gradually became more open. Lin Dan's dominance has weakened, but he is in the first group with Chen Long, Lee Chong Wei, and Axelsen.. In the semi-finals, Lin Dan unfortunately defeated Lee Chong Wei 1-2 and missed the opportunity to defend his Olympic title for the second time. In the bronze medal match, he lost to Axelsen again.
Fu Haifeng: Men's Doubles, 2012 London (with Cai Yun), 2016 Rio (with Zhang Nan)
Although men's doubles is a weak individual event of the Chinese badminton team, it has also defended the title. Fu Haifeng's overall Olympic record is even better than Lin Dan. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the winning combination of Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun reached the finals and finally won a silver medal.
At the 2012 London Olympics , the more mature Fengyun combination finally won the championship, and Fu Haifeng won his first Olympic gold medal. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Fu Haifeng defended the men's doubles championship. This time his partner was Zhang Nan.After the Rio Olympics, Fu Haifeng covered his face and cried, saying emotionally that he had no time to devote to the team, which moved countless fans.
In addition to the above 7 people, we would also like to mention Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei . Zhang Nan won the mixed doubles gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics (partnering with Zhao Yunlei) and the men's doubles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics; Zhao Yunlei won two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics in the women's doubles (with Tian Qing) and mixed doubles.
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