Olympics 2012 badminton final : Lee Chong Wei vs Lin Dan - A story of hope and despair

Olympics 2012 badminton final : Lee Chong Wei vs Lin Dan - A story of hope and despair

Lin Dan known as the king of badminton, even a person having little knowledge about badminton knows that who is Lin Dan , a legend in badminton who achieved more than everything in this game what a normal badminton player can only imagine. There is nothing he hasn’t won , no barrier he hasn’t broken.

  On the other hand there is another man, another legend, a never give up warrior- Lee Chong  Wei, who is not considered as the king , who is not the big champion , who didn’t get what he deserved. Before 2012 olympics  if there is one player who has been able to beat Lin Dan , it was Lee Chong Wei.

 Following table shows a brief comparison  of Lin Dan’s and Lee Chong Wei’s achievements in badminton before 2012 Olympics

Lin Dan	Lee Chong Wei
2008 Olympics gold medalist	2008 Olympics silver medalist(runner up)
4 times world champion	2 times runner up at world championships(lost to Lin)
5 times All England champion	2 times All England champion

From the above table one can see, what Lin Dan achieved that Lee Chong Wei lost.

Lee Chong Wei , a name in the badminton world which is famous more by his losses at major events to Lin Dan as compared to his achievements.

  He lost at 2008 Olympics finals to Lin Dan, two times at world championships (second major event in badminton after Olympics) to Lin Dan again.

Even after staying at no.1 for 298 weeks continuously, winning a number of superseries events in badminton , Lin Dan always defeated him at major event finals and consistently came of top.

 Olympics 2012 also was one of the such story of failure of this Malasian which completely broke him up after the match.

 Match started with an immense crowd of Malasian and Chinese fans surrounding the badminton court and waiting to see their heroes ,supporting them for the victory. There happens the entry of the super Dan and the great Chong Wei.

China vs Malasia – A rivalry that goes beyond sport

  To understand the Chong Wei-Lin rivalry, we must recognize the weight of politics and history between the two nations. In recent years, Chong Wei has come to represent, whether he likes it or not, Malaysia’s aspirations beyond just the sporting arena. He plays not just for himself, but for all of Malaysia. They see his success as theirs; and consequently, his failures too become theirs.

Lin is one of China’s many superstars, and he probably doesn’t feel the weight of his people’s aspirations as keenly as Chong Wei. Lin is the most accomplished badminton singles player of all time. There is nothing he has not won; no barrier he has not broken. In recent years, if there is one player who has been able to beat him in Superseries events, it is Chong Wei. However, in the events that really matter, such as the Olympics or the World Championships, Lin has consistently come on top.

How I watched the match

It was my first international badminton match experience as an audience. Although I had seen Lee Chong Wei earlier winning Olympics 2012 semifinal match easily against another Chinese player Chen long. So I had this dim vision in my mind about Lee Chong Wei like he is very dangerous badminton player, who cann’t be defeated for sure. So after watching the Olympics semifinal I was thinking about the final and wondering about how other Olympics finalist could look like or how dangerous he would be, will he play better than Chong wei, if yes then how could he be able to do that, when Chong Wei  was playing flawless.

These thoughts led me to watch the Olympics men singles final .

When I firstly watched Lin Dan in the final he looked like a Chinese samurai to me. And that situation in the match was giving me a feel of a revenge movie like a chinese player had come to avenge his another chinese friend who was defeated by Lee Chong Wei.

 The match started with umpire announcing the names of two legends of badminton. Lin Dan was looking quite focused with an attitude that I am the winner. On the other hand lee was looking quite tense , anxious and focused as this title was meant something more for him as compared to lin Dan. He took the first game easily from Lin as I expected . He played extraordinary flawless badminton in the first game . Malaysian crowd got up from their seats , cheering for their hero .

But here comes the next phase of the game , Lin Dan fought back taking the second game . Malaysian’s spirits went down accordingly and Chinese fans found their voice.

The third and deciding game was nerve-racking. At 19-18, with Chong Wei leading, a rally ensued—probing strokes, each challenging a response from the other. A high toss from Lin Dan, and Chong Wei, at the backcourt, suddenly decided to let it fall. It was an incredible piece of poor judgement. The shuttle fell in. Chong Wei had gifted Lin Dan a point when each point had the price of blood and sweat.

A hush among the Malaysian supporters. They had seen this so many times. They prayed, but nothing could stop the inevitable. Lin Dan had won his second successive Olympic gold medal. How much more could destiny reward one man? Chong Wei sank to his knees—and one almost expected that of him too.

One fan died of a heart attack after watching the match. How will Malaysia recover from this blow?

One should have seen the eyes of the Malasians on that day. You could see every emotion in those eyes—anxiety, fear , happiness. Sometimes you could even detect two contrasting emotions at the same moment—hope and fear.

It was the day their hero  lost the most important match of his career, and this match will probably be talked about a decade later too.

Now  “Super Dan”  was a four-time World Champion and twice Olympic gold medallist.

What I felt about the match?

 I didn’t understand the match or the rivalry of these two players properly at that time as it was my first match. But I was quite sad though because I didn’t want Lee to loose . I found myself connected with him somewhere . May be it was because I had watched him in one more match, or may be he was looking innocent ,decent all the time and never shown the bad attitude throughout the match, or may be I couldn’t see that disappointment on his face at the end of match. Whatever it was I felt very very sorry for him .

After the match I went on researching the whole history of these two players and I was shocked when I came to know everything about these two.

Lee being the world no. 1 for continuously for 298 weeks but never won at these major events like Olympics and world championships. How could destiny betray a man all the time and reward another all the time , these thoughts were revolving inside my head for sometime .

 But after this match whatever were the situations , I found this game more and more interesting . I started watching videos like how could I improve my badminton skills and applying everything in the game whatever I learnt from this .

Everytime I watch this match I find it interesting and inspiring and everytime I hope for Lee Chong wei’s victory at the end of the match and always close the video before the end because I don’t want to see that desperation on his face again.

I know Lee lost to Lin two times consecutively Olympics  but this man gave his best in the game .He deserved the title at 2012 Olympics but sometimes life doesn’t play fair with you.

After this match I have a number of his matches and he inspired me and made me love badminton more and more . He is a never give up warrior and he will remain best badminton player for me .

I hope a great future for you Lee and I hope u will fulfill your dream of winning gold at Olympics 2016.

Wish u best of luck

                                Lee Chong Wei