Lin Dan calls time on glorious badminton career
NEWDELHI:A year ago, Lin Dan had dismissed reports he planned to retire following a series of first round losses. The Chinese badminton legend was determined to play in his fifth Olympics despite a drop in performance as injuries took a toll on his ageing body.
With the Tokyo Games delayed by a year, Lin Dan realised it would be too much to ask of his 36-year-old body, becoming the latest retirement—and probably the biggest—caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Every forceful jump was a desire for victory. (But) my physical abilities and pain no longer allow me to fight alongside my teammates,” Lin Dan wrote on social networking site Weibo.
Hailed as the greatest and most complete shuttler ever, the lefthanded player announced his retirement on Saturday, calling time on an illustrious career that saw the Chinese win every major championship in badminton— the only player to do so. He won two Olympics, five World Championships, two World Cups (an event not played now) and two Asian Games singles titles and was part of victorious Chinese teams in 5 Sudirman Cups and six Thomas Cups.
“’Persevere’ I said to myself in every moment of suffering so that my sporting career could be prolonged,” he said.
Lin Dan is the only badminton player to retain the Olympic title, which he did at 2012 London, and set benchmarks that will be difficult to match.
A long time world No.1, Lin Dan also carried with him a ‘bad boy’ image, especially in his younger days. Having joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which he left in 2015, he was barred from many activities.
But he broke those rules by getting many tattooes, which included religious symbols, doing numerous commercials, launching his own underwear brand and endorsing it. It earned him an aura that was rare among Chinese sports personalities.
Lin Dan ends his career just over a year after the retirement of Lee Chong Wei, his great rival for more than a decade. The Malaysian lost to Lin in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic finals. “We knew this day would arrive, Heavy moment of our lives; You pulled down the curtain gracefully, You were king where we fought so proudly; Your final wave all four disappear, Within the hush of silent tear,” said Lee in a tweet with pictures of them together.