Personal life
In his early years, Lin was encouraged to learn to play piano by his parents, but chose to play badminton at the age of five. He joined the sports troop of the People's Liberation Armyat the age of 13 and has been part of China's national badminton team since 2001 when he was 18.
On April 10, 2008, he created controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and reporters during the warm-up tournament ahead of the Thomas Cup. The incident was reportedly triggered by Lin being unhappy with Ji's starting lineup for the tournament.
Lin has been in a romantic relationship with Xie Xingfang, herself a former world champion badminton player, since 2003 They were quietly married on December 13, 2010 inHaizhu, Guangzhou. Xie initially denied but later admitted the news when reporters got the evidence. Lin reacted angrily towards the news and insisted that it was a personal matter between him and Xie.
[edit]Career
[edit]Junior events
Lin emerged as a winner in the 2000 Asian Junior Championships in both the team and boys' singles events. He was also a member of the winning Chinese team and a boys' singles semi-finalist in the 2000 World Junior Championships.
[edit]2001–2003
2001 marked the start of Lin's professional career. In his first final, at the Asian Badminton Championships, he was thrashed by compatriot Xia Xuanze.
In 2002 Lin took his first title at the Korea Open. He was a member of China's 2002 Thomas Cup squad which defeated Sweden (5–0), Denmark (3–2), and Korea (4–1) to reach the semifinals. However, Lin didn't play in the semifinal tie against Malaysia, which saw China's team tumble to a 1–3 defeat. Lin participated in another four tournaments without coming close to victory. He was knocked out in the first round of the Singapore,and Indonesia Opens, second round of the Denmark Open, and third round of the China Open. In October Lin was defeated in the semifinals of the Asian Games team competition which directly blew China's hope of a gold medal.
Lin started the 2003 season with a third round defeat in the All England Open. He reached a final later in the year at the Japan Open but was beaten by his compatriot Xia Xuanze once again. Lin then made his inaugural debut in the World Championships inBirmingham, England. He breezed past Per-Henrik Croona and Przemysław Wacha in the first two rounds, but was beaten by Xia again in his third round match.After the world meet, he was eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open, third round of the Indonesia Open, and second round of the Malaysia Open. However, Lin ended the season strongly by capturing the Denmark,Hong Kong, and China Opens, and finishing runner-up at the German Open.
[edit]2004
Lin had a good start to 2004, earning the BWF's number one world ranking for the first time in February. He helped China win the qualifying round of Thomas Cup and then captured the Swiss Open.[35][36] He won his first ever All England Open title by beating Peter Gade in the final.[37] He reached the semifinal of the Japan Open before going off to Jakarta, Indonesia in May for the Thomas Cup campaign.[38]
In Thomas Cup, Lin helped China to an excellent start in which they thrashed United States and defending champion Indonesia 5–0 respectively to enter the quarterfinals.[39] Lin then cruised past Shoji Sato and Lee Hyun-il in quarterfinal and semifinal ties against Japanand Korea respectively, each ending in 3–0 wins for China.[40][41] In the final, he beat Peter Gade in straight games to give China the lead before the Chinese team eventually won three matches to one. China thus took the crown, ending a 14 years drought in the tournament.[42]
Lin suffered setbacks later in the 2004 season when he was ousted in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open,[43] and was reported to have a leg injury in mid-July, prior to the Olympic Games.[44] Lin "crashed" in his first Olympic Games when, as the first seed, he was ousted early by Singapore's Ronald Susilo, who claimed Lin was "too eager to win".[45][46] However, Lin bounced back with three titles at the Denmark,[47] German,[48] and China Opens,[49] and ended the season as a semi-finalist at the Indonesia Open.[50]
[edit]2005
Lin retained his number one world ranking during 2005, winning his second German and Hong Kong Open titles, as well as the Japan Open, China Masters, and World Cup tournaments.[51][52][53][54][55] He also helped China recapture the Sudirman Cup when it shut-out both defending champion South Korea in the semifinals and Indonesia in the final.[56][57]
Lin failed to retain his All England title, losing a three set final to teammate Chen Hong,[58] and he was beaten in the final of the Malaysia Open by another rising star, Lee Chong Wei.[59] In his bid to capture his first world title at Anaheim California, he beat Kennevic Asuncion, Shoji Sato, Lee Hyun-il, and Peter Gade in succession to reach the final.[60][61][62] There he was decisively beaten by Taufik Hidayat.[63] Lin was also eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open and the quarterfinals of the China Open.[64]
[edit]2006
Lin started the season by reaching the semifinals of the German Open,[65] and had a same result in China Masters and China Open.[66][67] He failed to win the Malaysia Open in June, which saw his opponent Lee Chong Wei had a superb display to save the title after a 13–20 down in rubber game,[68] and also lost to Taufik Hidayat in Asian Games final.[69]
However, he won six individual titles in the season. He recapturing All England Open,[70] won Chinese Taipei Open,[71] Macau Open,[72]Hong Kong Open,[73] Japan Open,[74] and his first world title after beating his compatriot Bao Chunlai in the final.[75]
In May, Lin and his teammates had extended China's Thomas Cup reign, shut out Denmark 3–0 for second consecutive title.[76]
[edit]2007
Lin Dan entered 2007 with a loss to South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the round of 16 at the Malaysia Open. A week later he captured the Korea Open by defeating Chinese teammate Chen Jin in the final. He went on to win the German Open and then the All Englandchampionships again, crushing compatriot Chen Yu 21–13, 21–12. In June, Lin Dan was part of Team China in the Sudirman Cup, held inGlasgow, Scotland. The Chinese team retained the cup after beating Indonesia 3–0 in the final. Later in the season Lin Dan defeatedWong Choong Hann of Malaysia and became the China Masters champion for 2007. In August, Lin Dan extended his reign as the world champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21–11, 22–20 in the final of the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lin Dan thus became the first man since Yang Yang to win back to back world championships.
[edit]2008
Lin started the season with a defeat in the final of the Korea Open to Lee Hyun-il.[77] It was a match filled with controversy as Lin had a scuffle with South Korea's coach Li Mao after a line call dispute. Lin refused to apologise and received no punishment from Badminton World Federation (BWF) after its probe of the altercation.[78][79] In March he suffered another defeat to his compatriot Chen Jin in the final of the All England Open,[80] which was followed by press accusations that Lin "gave" the match to Chen in order to increase Chen's ranking points for Olympic qualification.[81] In the following week, Lin won his first Swiss Open.[82] At the Asia Championships, Lin was again accused of helping his compatriot when his loss to Chen Jin in the semifinals ensured Chen's qualification for the Olympic Games.[83]
In Thomas Cup, Lin won every match he played except his semifinal clash with Lee Chong Wei, and helped China to a third successive title in the tournament. After easy victories over Nigeria and Canada in the group stage, China defeated Thailand in the quarterfinals.[84]Despite Lin's loss to Lee Chong Wei in the semifinals, China still managed to qualify for the final over Malaysia 3–2 [85] and retained the title after beating South Korea 3–1.[86]
In Olympic Games, he beat Hong Kong's Ng Wei in the first round,[88] Park Sung-hwan in the second round,[89] and Peter Gade in the quarterfinals.[90] He then beat his teammate Chen Jin in straight sets to set up a "dream" final against Lee Chong Wei.[91] However, the final was a one-sided match as Lin demolished Lee 21–12, 21–8, and became the first men's singles player to win the Olympic gold as a first seed.[92]
[edit]2009
[edit]2010
After the Thomas Cup triumph, Lin played in the World Championships in Paris, France. He won his opening match[116] and then beat Henri Hurskainen and Bao Chunlai in the second and third rounds respectively[117][118] before being upset by Park Sung-hwan in the quarterfinals. The day also saw his arch rival Lee Chong Wei exit from the tournament.[119] Lin then bounced back to win the China Masters,[120] but continued his lowlight in the season after being beaten in the final of the Japan Open,[121] and conceding walkovers in the quarterfinals of the China Open,[122] and Hong Kong Open respectively.[123]
[edit]2011
Lin began the year with a withdrawal in the Malaysia Open's quarterfinals, which marked his third withdrawal in a row since late 2010. This action caused criticism mostly by Taufik Hidayat, who wanted the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to investigate.[125] His mother denied that he retired on purpose, and cited he had a waist injury.[126] However, he sprang back to win the first ever million dollar badminton tournament, Korea Open, a week later by defeating Lee Chong Wei in a rubber game final.[127] He then won the German Open, beating his compatriot Chen Jin in the final.[128]
However, Lin's hope to become the first player to win five All England titles in the open era was dashed[129] when he was defeated by Lee Chong Wei in the final.[130] He then won his secondAsian Championships in April on a day which saw China sweep all five titles.[131] Lin helped China to a fourth consecutive Sudirman Cup title in May, defeating Denmark 3–0 in the final.[132] In June, Lin withdrew from the Singapore Open final due to gastric flu, this drew the jeers from fans in the stadium.[133] Just few days later, he was stunned by Sho Sasaki in the second round of Indonesia Open.[134]
In August, he won his fourth World Championships title by beating Lee Chong Wei in final inWembley Arena, a venue which will host the same competition for 2012 Summer Olympics. This dashed Lee's hope of becoming the first Malaysian to win a gold medal in the World Championships.[135]
In September, he was ousted in the semi-finals of China Masters,[136] and withdrew from the semifinals of Japan Open.[137] This was followed up by a shock exit in the second round of the Denmark Open to Hong Kong player Wong Wing Ki,[138] and retired in the semifinals of French Open despite leading the match, stated it is due to paronychia.[139][140] The retirement also marked his sixth in the season, many media quest the retirement was due to the strategic consideration to let China team have full quota in men's singles for 2012 Olympics.[141] However, Li Yongbo said Lin retirement is not a "gift", this is due to that BWF stated that each top players are compulsory to participate in number of tournament and Lin needs a better condition towards the Olympics.[142] Lin voice frustrated that the peak schedule was the reason he had a most retirement in a season.[143] He ended the last three tournaments in high note, won his fifth Hong Kong Open and China Open title respectively,[144][145] and his first ever Super Series Master Finals title.[146]
[edit]2012
Lin started the year by losing to Lee in the final of the Korea Open,and a second round defeat in Malaysia Open. He won his fifth German Open title in March, and his first of the season. He then won the All England Open in March, thus became the first man in 33 years to win five titles. In April, Lin withdrew from semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships due to waist injury, and the move also helped his compatriot Chen Jin secure the Olympics berth.
He helped China to fifth consecutive Thomas Cup title without losing a single match in every tie he played. He then bowed out from semifinals of Thailand Open, which he complain of his fatigue before tournament began.
[edit]Awards
Lin won the Eddie Choong Player of the Year award for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007. He also secured the BWF Best Male Player of the Year in 2008. Lin was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) during the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.On January 16, 2011, he was voted as the 2010 best male athlete in CCTV Sports Personality of the Year for his clean sweep in major badminton titles.
[edit]Individual finals
[edit]Titles (49)
[edit]Runners-up (18)
| Year | Tournament | Opponent in final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Asian Badminton Championships |  Xia Xuanze | 10–15, 9–15 |
| 2001 | Denmark Open | Bao Chunlai | 5–7, 1–7, 0–7 |
| 2003 | Japan Open | Xia Xuanze | 12–15, 10–15 |
| 2003 | German Open |  Lee Hyun-il | 4–15, 4–15 |
| 2005 | All England Open | Chen Hong | 15–8, 5–15, 2–15 |
| 2005 | Malaysia Open |  Lee Chong Wei | 15–17, 15–9, 9–15 |
| 2005 | World Championships |  Taufik Hidayat | 3–15, 7–15 |
| 2006 | Malaysia Open | Lee Chong Wei | 18–21, 21–18, 21–23 |
| 2006 | Asian Games | Taufik Hidayat | 15–21, 20–22 |
| 2008 | Korea Open | Lee Hyun-il | 21–4, 21–23, 23–25 |
| 2008 | All England Open | Chen Jin | 20–22, 23–25 |
| 2008 | Hong Kong Open | Chen Jin | 9–21, 21–9, 17–21 |
| 2009 | Swiss Open | Lee Chong Wei | 16–21, 16–21 |
| 2009 | East Asian Games | Choi Ho-jin | 20–22, 17–21 |
| 2010 | Japan Open | Lee Chong Wei | 20–22, 21–16, 17–21 |
| 2011 | All England Open | Lee Chong Wei | 17–21, 17–21 |
| 2011 | Singapore Open | Chen Jin | Walkover |
| 2012 | Korea Open | Lee Chong Wei | 21–12, 18–21, 14–21 |
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