Double-Olympic gold medallist Lee Yang retires: The unlikely Badminton doubles star who often surprised himself

Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin have what Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty would’ve dearly loved for themselves – the men’s doubles Olympic gold. Not once, but twice over, from Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024.

And the Chinese Taipei pairing has managed to get to the pinnacle of Olympic achievement with surprising absence of conventional pathways needing the gold-medal staples: great form in the lead-up, a partnership going back years, champions’ regal confidence and on-court composure and calm poise. They were woefully out of form getting into Paris, and hilariously chaotic while winning the 76-minute final, 21-17, 18-21, 21-19.

As Lee Yang, the younger of the two at 27, retired this last week, their tale of wild, unexpected double success, continues to boggle.

The two don’t go back in decades-long partnership, and till the beginning of 2019 hadn’t played together. Then they decided to pair up, on a whim and a shared timeline – they were classmates in junior high school who both played shuttle. Lee Yang, in fact, was nowhere on the elite junior international scene till his first year of college.

Not eye-catchingly talented, Lee started in the game in primary school’s Class 5, coincidentally the same time and place as Wang Chi-lin, though they never considered jamming together.

Wang had the regulation monster smash from the back-court, but Lee could simply hassle the opposition front-court player, and push him back, with unreal speed accelerations. That, Lee managed to completely harangue Danish Kim Astrup, himself compulsively annoying for all opponents, in the Paris semis, by hitting long, was Lee’s tactical coup.

What Lee had despite limited hand-skills was discipline – including the same sleep pattern for dozen years. Focus Taiwan CNA news would quote him as saying at his farewell meet, “I also want to thank myself for persisting for so long. Every day I would go to bed at 11 p.m. and get up at 7:20 a.m.”

Lee and Wang don’t go back in decades-long partnership, and till the beginning of 2019 hadn’t played together. (REUTERS)

They won surprise gold at Tokyo, and a district sports official post their Paris medal felicitation remarked that the whole country finally accepted that Tokyo wasn’t a fluke. It had taken a second gold to convince their own.

They barely qualified for Paris Olympics, ahead of another Taipese pairing ranked No 14, and fans mockingly dubbed them as one-Olympic wonders. Between Tokyo and Paris, they made just 3 finals, winning only Japan Open from 49 tournaments. There were long injury breaks. They even split up. And word from Taiwan was they were too busy shooting commercial endorsements, to really focus on winning titles. The myth of the ‘fluke gold’ got well and truly entrenched as they plummeted to World No 20.

At the Paris draw, the unseeded pair, ranked World No 10 then, were in the nightmare round robin group, clubbed with World Nos 2, 6 and 9. How they got out of that killer-pit Zombieland, downing them all, to make Knockouts, stunned the badminton world.

Wang later remarked to CNA that no one gave them a chance, including themselves. Confidence is overrated. “But no expectations meant we played with much less stress as a result,” he was quoted as saying. Lee was due to start teaching at National Taiwan Sport University, having decided on retirement.

In the Paris finals against strong favourites, the yuppie Chinese, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, the Taiwanese had a proper meltdown in the second set. Lee was candid as ever, telling CNA, “We definitely could have taken them down in the second game, but I screwed it up because I was in such a hurry.” He day-dreamt of travelling abroad for leisure after all this was over while bang in the middle of the final, and that scenery calmed him down.

Wang recalls being jolted out the slump by fans cheering and Lee mocking him. “Lee Yang challenged me, asking ‘Are you tired?’ before the third game, and that got me locked in again,” CNA quoted him.

Lee’s reaction post the gold drew chuckles when he joked he wanted to get some popcorn, stand aside and watch the scene of the ROC anthem playing and around 1000 fans singing along at La Chapelle arena. At Tokyo, it had been just Lee and Wang screeching out the national anthem, so Paris felt a tad more musical and emotional.

Besides teaching at University in retirement, Lee’s future dreams are also unique. Having to travel for tournaments meant he had grown “unfamiliar” with Taiwan, he told CNA.

“Right now I really want to ride a bicycle all around Taiwan, that way I can thoroughly enjoy myself. I can stop off everywhere, and get to know Taiwan all over again.”

An unassuming international career of barely 8 years would end with a chilled celebratory bicycle ride. And two Olympic gold medals, that no one saw coming. Even the second time.

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