Lin Dan

Lin Dan
林丹
Lin in 2017
Personal information
Nickname(s)Super Dan
Birth name林丹
CountryChina
Born (1983-10-14) 14 October 1983
Longyan, Fujian, China
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Weight70 kg (154 lb)[1]
Spouse
Xie Xingfang
(m. 2010)
Years active2000–2020
Retired4 July 2020[2]
HandednessLeft
CoachXia Xuanze
Men's singles
Career record662 wins, 131 losses
Career title(s)66
Highest ranking1 (26 February 2004)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  China
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Men's singles
2012 London Men's singles
World Championships
2006 Madrid Men's singles
2007 Kuala Lumpur Men's singles
2009 Hyderabad Men's singles
2011 London Men's singles
2013 Guangzhou Men's singles
2005 Anaheim Men's singles
2017 Glasgow Men's singles
World Cup
2005 Yiyang Men's singles
2006 Yiyang Men's singles
Sudirman Cup
2005 Beijing Mixed team
2007 Glasgow Mixed team
2009 Guangzhou Mixed team
2011 Qingdao Mixed team
2015 Dongguan Mixed team
2017 Gold Coast Mixed team
Thomas Cup
2004 Jakarta Men's team
2006 Tokyo Men's team
2008 Jakarta Men's team
2010 Kuala Lumpur Men's team
2012 Wuhan Men's team
2018 Bangkok Men's team
2002 Guangzhou Men's team
2014 New Delhi Men's team
Asian Games
2006 Doha Men's team
2010 Guangzhou Men's singles
2010 Guangzhou Men's team
2014 Incheon Men's singles
2018 Jakarta-Palembang Men's team
2006 Doha Men's singles
2014 Incheon Men's team
2002 Busan Men's team
Asian Championships
2010 New Delhi Men's singles
2011 Chengdu Men's singles
2014 Gimcheon Men's singles
2015 Wuhan Men's singles
2001 Manila Men's singles
2017 Wuhan Men's singles
2008 Johor Bahru Men's singles
2012 Qingdao Men's singles
2016 Wuhan Men's singles
East Asian Games
2009 Hong Kong Men's team
2009 Hong Kong Men's singles
World Junior Championships
2000 Guangzhou Mixed team
2000 Guangzhou Boys' singles
Asian Junior Championships
2000 Kyoto Boys' singles
2000 Kyoto Boys' team
1999 Yangon Boys' doubles
BWF profile
Signature
Updated on 21 November 2024.
Lin Dan
Simplified Chinese林丹
Traditional Chinese林丹
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLín Dān
IPA[lǐn tán]

Lin Dan (Chinese: 林丹; born 14 October 1983)[1] is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, five-time World Championships gold medalist, two-time World Cup champion, two-time Asian Games gold medalist, four-time Asian Champion, as well as a six-time All England champion. He led China to victory 5 times at the Sudirman Cup, 6 times at the Thomas Cup, and 3 times at the Asian Games men's team event.

Widely regarded as the greatest badminton player of all time,[3][4][5] by the age of 28 Lin had completed the "Super Grand Slam", having won the full set of all nine major titles in the badminton world of his time: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Year-end Finals, Asian Games, and Asian Championships, becoming the third player to achieve this feat after Ge Fei and Gu Jun, and the only male player to ever achieve this feat.[6][7] Of the 9 major events, he had won at least 2 of each events except the Year-end Finals where he won once in his only time participating in that event. He also became the first men's singles player to retain the Olympic gold medal by winning in 2008 and successfully defending his title in 2012.[8]

Lin was dubbed "Super Dan" by opponent Peter Gade after winning the 2004 All England Open final, and the nickname has since been widely used by his fans as well as the media to refer to him, in recognition of his achievements.[9][10] He was inducted to BWF Badminton Hall of Fame on 26 May 2023.[11]

  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lin Dan". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Chinese badminton superstar Lin Dan retires at 36". Channel NewsAsia. Agence France-Presse. 4 July 2020. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. ^ Selvaraj, Jonathan (4 July 2020). "'Lin Dan is undoubtedly the greatest. He is alone at the top'". ESPN. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Badminton: Lee Chong Wei calls Lin Dan 'the greatest of all time'". The Straits Times. 16 April 2020.
  5. ^ AFP. "Lin Dan the greatest, says record-breaking Gade". NDTV. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  6. ^ "史上最佳"送林丹绝不是奉承 超级大满贯前无古人 (in Chinese). Sina Corp. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  7. ^ ""Super Dan" completes super "Grand Slam" as Denmark denies China's clean-sweep at BWF Finals". Xinhua. 18 December 2011. Archived from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference London2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "林丹:不喜欢超级丹称号 会选择留在潘多拉星球". Tianjin Enorth Netnews (in Chinese). 5 March 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  10. ^ 直到世界尽头 (in Chinese). 99 Library.
  11. ^ "Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei Elected to BWF Hall of Fame". Badminton World Federation. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.