Posted in Sports on 06. Aug, 2012
Bad Boy Of Badminton Struts Away With Gold
When it was over and the gold was won, the bad boy of badminton ran around Wembley Arena. In a building that once hosted The Who and the Rolling Stones, China’s Lin Dan ripped off his shirt and made like Mick Jagger, balling the shirt in his hand and heaving it into the crowd.
Then he raised his hands, pointed No. 1s to the roof and shouted into the roar.
Missing were flames shooting from his fingers.
Left on the court behind him, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei lay flat. He was two points short of the gold medal his country has never won in any sport. His face glistened with tears. His lips quivered. His eyes stared at nothing.
“Never mind, you just tried your best,” one of his coaches, Rashid Sidek, whispered in his
But the words were empty in the din that fell upon Lin. Malaysia had dumped its athletic dreams on Chong Wei. Gold was the only option. Silver was a defeat. Chong Wei knew it. So did the hundreds of Malaysian fans who quietly pulled down posters reading: “The gold mission for the whole nation” and “Do it for No. 1.” They were already shuffling out of the arena and into the afternoon.
In a sport that has become the punchline of these Olympics, scorned for the women’s doubles players who tried to lose their matches, the emotion in the men’s singles final on Sunday was very real. Minutes after the final, both Lin and Chong Wei were weeping. One cried for joy, the other for lament. And somehow it seemed this is what the Olympics are supposed to be about.
Lin is badminton’s best player. Chong Wei is the game’s second. They say they are good friends but they are also bitter rivals. Whenever they meet in the finals of every important badminton tournament Lin always wins. The biggest of those wins came in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Lin beat Chong Wei in two sets, another in last year’s World Championships when Chong Wei was a point away from defeating Lin only to lose.
“Lin is a fantastic player,” Chong Wei said, adding that he can usually beat almost every player in the world, “but it becomes an issue when I play with Lin because he is such a fantastic player.”
They are really nothing alike.
Chong Wei broods. He looks tormented. He walks as if he carries the burdens of his country on his slender shoulders.
Dan preens. He became “the bad boy of badminton” years ago when stories of his flamboyant behavior began flying about. In a sport of clean-cut athletes, his arms sport tattoos: a star on one shoulder and a cross on the other. The latter, he said, represents his Christian grandmother who prays before his matches. He has tussled with opponents, once famously raising his racquet at a South Korean coach, leaving everybody to fear he was going to smash the man over the head.
Before the Beijing Games, several Chinese journalists said they saw Lin punch his coach, Ji Xinpeng. Lin denied the punch, but it has become a part of his legacy, adding to a tale that has made him a giant in his homeland. In China, the only male athlete bigger than Lin is Yao Ming.
Early in Sunday’s match, Lin looked overwhelmed. He waved feebly at Chong Wei’s shots, knocking several returns into the net. He mumbled to himself. He kicked at the ground. He smacked himself in the forehead. But after losing the first set 21-15, he stormed back to win the second 21-10, setting up an epic third.
After fighting for several minutes, Lin and Chong Wei were tied at 19. Lin skipped in place. Chong Wei glared straight ahead. The Malaysian fans waved their red-and-white striped flags and chanted Chong Wei’s name. They pleaded with him. Two more points.
He wouldn’t get them. Lin got there first. And when he did, he began his run about Wembley. He shouted. He whooped. He pumped his fists. Chong Wei finally rose from the court and sulked to his racquet bag. Lin raced over to embrace him, but it was a one-sided hug. Chong Wei’s arms dangled like spaghetti. He has suffered so much.
Nearly three months ago he injured ligaments in his right ankle. There was a concern he wouldn’t be able to play in these Olympics. He cried when he first heard how badly he was hurt. But he made it here because of a secret training regimen that turned out to be a stem cell treatment. Still, he never seemed comfortable in London.
When Chong Wei nearly lost his first-round match to an unknown from Finland, his coach said the pressure back home had become too much.
“He can not lose,” Tey Seu Bock said. “He has to win.”
Then on Sunday, Chong Wei lost to Lin again.
They were such a contrast as they prepared to get their medals. Chong Wei stumbled onto the platform and weakly bent his head to accept his silver, ironically presented by a Malaysian official. Many of the Malaysian fans had already left the arena. There was no one to cheer Chong Wei. When Lin was called, he threw his arms out wide as if to scream, “Look at me!” He took the traditional bouquet, then snapped a salute at the rising Chinese flag. When the anthem was over, he threw his flowers into the stands. Chong Wei slumped off the medal stand.
Later Chong Wei would say he was done chasing Olympic gold. The elusive medal will have to be somebody else’s burden now.
Meanwhile, Lin Dan, the bad boy of badminton, basked in his gold. He sat in a press conference, as straight and confident as Chong Wei was drooped and broken.
“Let me make a joke,” he said, explaining that when the match was 19-19, he “quietly wished Lee Chong Wei would make a mistake.”
“But that’s a joke,” he added.
Sitting beside him. Lee Chong Wei didn’t laugh. On the day the bad boy of badminton won himself another gold, Chong Wei was going home with a silver. This will not be seen as a success in the country that badly wants a gold.
Nobody understood that more than Chong Wei. He looked at his silver medal with the same disregard that his country would appraise it.
Second again to the bad boy of badminton was the same thing as failure.
Usain Bolt Sets Olympic Record, Wins Men’s 100 Gold Medal In 9.63
After all the talk about Bolt falling off his elite pace and being outclassed by fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, Bolt outraced the 22-year-old for gold, winning in an Olympic-record 9.63 seconds to Blake’s 9.75. The United States grabbed bronze with 9.79 from Justin Gatlin.
“There was a lot of people saying that I wasn’t going to win. There was a lot of talk,” Bolt said. “For me, it was an even greater feeling to come out and show the world I’m still the No. 1. I’m still the best.”
Now he’s focused on defending his Beijing gold medals in the 200 meters and 4×100 relay. If he does that, he’ll be the first runner in Olympic history to ever defend all three. Which would be, in a word that Bolt likes, legendary.
“That’s my ultimate goal,” Bolt said of being a legend. “That’s it for me.”
And he played the part Sunday. Running from Lane 7, Bolt was in the pack for the first 50 meters of the race until his long strides began boosting him forward. But unlike Beijing, he never opened up a wide margin in what was an extremely fast final. And with Blake and Gatlin in his pockets going into the finish, Bolt admitted he never thought about setting a world record or looked at the clock until the final 25 meters.
At that point, Bolt said, “It was too late to do anything about it.”
Still, his 9.63 was remarkably fast – the second fastest ever behind his world record of 9.58 in Beijing. With it, he now has the three fastest 100 meters in history next to his name. And he’s only the second Olympic champion in the 100 meters to defend his title, joining the United State’s Carl Lewis. Now he can admit it: Staying on top of the podium in 2012 was far more difficult than getting there for the first time in the 2008 Beijing Games.
“Without a doubt, hands down, [being at] the top is harder than anything else,” Bolt said. “When you get to the top, you know it’s good. You’re working and enjoying it. Sometimes you lose sight of what’s going on around you. Yeah, you know what it takes to get there, but sometimes you lose sight because everybody is praising you, everybody thinks you’re great and you’re doing well.”
Ultimately, Bolt said it was Blake who rang the bell for him, beating him the 100 and 200 in Jamaican Olympic qualifying late in July. That, Bolt said, was his turning point to retaining his 100-meter title.
“When Yohan Blake beat me twice, it woke me up,” Bolt said. “It opened my eyes. Pretty much he came and knocked on my door and said, ‘Usain, wake up. It’s an Olympic year. I’m ready. Are you?’ ”
And Blake’s role in pushing Bolt?
“I’ve trained really hard,” Blake said. “That’s why Usain nicknamed me ‘The Beast.’ ”
And it might have been a good thing for both Bolt and Blake to have each other, as they faced a U.S. contingent that was clearly up for the gold medal challenge. The United States had a superb showing in the qualifying rounds with former 100-meter world record holder Tyson Gay, former Olympic gold medalist Gatlin and young star Ryan Bailey all putting up fast heats heading into the finals.
Despite coming off a four-year drug suspension, Gatlin appeared ready to crank up again for his big-stage reputation. And Gay looked like he was regaining his form despite hip surgery just over a year ago. The pair made Bolt and Blake dig every last step on Sunday, as Gatlin finished .16 off Bolt and .04 off Blake. Gay was one-hundredth of a second from tying Gatlin for bronze, a fact that drove him to tears as he left the track.
But Gatlin said he was “taking on a mountain,” and that his bronze was a success in the face of returning from suspension against the two fastest runners in the world.
“It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Gatlin said. “I’ve been at the top of the podium before. To come back and work this hard – to be honest with you, watching Bolt, watching Blake, what they’ve done, that has given me inspiration to work harder, run fast, train harder in practice … and just push myself to be a better runner.”
Now Bolt moves on to his next challenge: the 200 meters, which begins on Tuesday. So he’s off to sleep. But not before dropping one other little tease before the lights go out. How about Rio de Janeiro in 2016? Any chance of a 100-meter three-peat?
“I hope I’m there,” Bolt said. “I’m going to be 30, but I think I’ll still be in good shape. Blake will be 26, so it should be interesting.”
When Cuba’s Jose Larduet fell victim to a similar decision about 15 minutes later, the Belarusian Karneyeu came back up the fighters’ tunnel and intercepted Larduet on the way out of the ring, holding up Larduet’s hand as the real winner.
Both Karneyeu and Larduet felt cheated by their opponents’ clutch-and-grab tactics in the Olympic boxing tournament Sunday night, which means their fights will be decided outside the ring.
After the show, amateur boxing’s governing body confirmed Belarus and Cuba had immediately protested the losses. AIBA planned to conduct the reviews Sunday night.
Azerbaijan’s Teymur Mammadov beat Karneyeu on the tiebreaking countback despite blatantly holding Karneyeu, and Italy’s Clemente Russo beat Larduet 12-10 with an awfully similar strategy to close the first round of quarterfinal bouts in London.
Mammadov and Russo are hardly the first heavyweights in boxing history to make up for their exhaustion or skill deficiencies by holding, but the referees in their bouts didn’t deem the holding severe enough to penalize.
Their opponents strongly disagreed – and their protests have significant precedent in a tournament that already has seen two results overturned when AIBA determined the ring official hadn’t penalized blatant misbehavior.
AIBA overturned the result of Indian welterweight Krishan Vikas’ victory over Errol Spence of the U.S. team, determining Vikas had committed nine unpenalized holding fouls in the final round alone.
Although the men’s tournament is being upstaged by the women’s Olympic debut this weekend, everybody who wins from here on is guaranteed a medal – providing the results of their bouts aren’t changed by AIBA, which has been aggressive in addressing appeals of its officials’ decisions in London.
Earlier, bantamweight Luke Campbell clinched the dominant British team’s first boxing medal of the Olympics, riding the crowd’s overwhelming support to a 16-15 victory over Bulgaria’s Detelin Dalakliev.
John Joe Nevin clinched Ireland’s first medal in any London sport with a 19-13 victory over promising pro prospect Oscar Valdez of Mexico. Nevin’s semifinal bout is against top-seeded Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba, who beat Brazil’s Robenilson Vieria.
After lightweight Nicola Adams won her opening bout in the first women’s Olympic tournament earlier Sunday, Britain had six men and three women in position to win medals in its home Olympics. Campbell took the first step with a closer-than-expected win.
Nevin appeared more relieved than elated when he secured Ireland’s first medal by holding off Valdez, who dropped Nevin to the canvas in the third round with a vicious hook to the body. The decision left Valdez in tears and unable to speak as he failed to secure the first boxing medal since 2000 for Mexico.
“Oscar Valdez will be a world champion someday,” Nevin said. “I honestly believe that. He caught me with a cracker of a shot. He’s a strong opponent, but he seemed to be tiring, and he started missing some punches. … It means a lot to me to win this medal, and hopefully I can change it into a different color.”