At 17th 2008 night, the badminton event of Beijing Olympic Games witnessed its final match the men s single final. In the final, Longyan athlete Lin Dan beat Malaysia s Lee Chong Wei 2:0, and won the men s Olympic badminton single again for China after eight years, and became a grand slam of badminton. This is the second gold medal won by the athletes from Longyan City.
For the four successive Olympic Games since badminton became an Olympic event at the Barcelona Olympic Games 1992, there has been no champion at the World Badminton Championships that could succeed in the next year s Olympic Games. It seems like a rule.
Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei are the world s No.1 and No.2 seeds, the top two badminton players. Thanks to his perfect performance, Lin Dan defeated Lee Chong Wei with the result of 21-12, 21-8, breaking the rule of no World Champion may Win in the Next Year s Olympic Games .
Lin Dan was born in Shanghang County in 1983. He began to play badminton at the age of five, was enrolled in Fujian Sports School at 9, joined Eight One Sports Team at 12, and joined the National Team at 18. Before he was 20, Lin Dan has won 5 championships on the tournaments hold by IBF, and was reputed as Super Dan. Since then, he hardly let others take the world s rank first. Lin Dan won consecutively in the World Badminton Championships in year 2006 and 2007, the second consecutive winner after China s Yang Yang. Over the past years, he has been the main force to help China in winning the Thomas Cup and Sudirman Cup consecutively.
However, the Athens Olympic Games 4 years ago was a painful memory for Lin Dan. As a very hopeful winner, he lost the first round unexpected to Singapore s Ronald Susilo. The loss has been a pressure on Lin Dan for 4 years. Even on the Thomas Cup May this year, Lin Dan lost 0-2 to Lee Chong Wei. This time, Lin Dan overcame all the pressure, and headed for the final after beating Wu Wei of Hong Kong, China, Park Sung Hwan of South Korea, Peter Gade of Denmark, and his teammate Chen Jin.
From the first-round loss in Athens to the final crown 4 years later in Beijing, Lin Dan has surpassed himself and made his Olympic dream come true.
