FEATURE/From Tokyo to Paris: Unraveling Taiwan badminton duo's Olympic journey

By Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff writer

Calling the back-to-back success of Taiwanese badminton duo Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games a miracle is almost an understatement.

"Honestly, I have no idea how we made it this time," Lee told CNA after the pair secured their second Olympic gold in men's doubles on Sunday, the only badminton players to defend their Olympic title won in Tokyo three years ago.

Age was one factor counting against them, with Lee at 28 and Wang at 29 older than many of their competitors, and Lee planning to retire at the end of 2024.

Most damning, however, was their recent form, which left them ranked outside the world's top 10. In fact, they were not even Taiwan's highest-ranked men's doubles team as of July 30, according to the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) latest rankings.

Even they did not believe they would win gold again despite their Olympic success in Tokyo.

"Do we look like defending champions with our recent results?" they joked during an interview before the Paris games.

Since Lee and Wang's success in Tokyo, Taiwanese have embraced it to satisfy their preferred narratives, whether as a triumph over China or a great example of a bromance.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, their strong performances and unique celebrations even earned them praise as "a pair of divination blocks," thrown in Taiwanese temples to get support from the gods.

Yet the duo's experience reveals a far simpler story of two regular guys who have achieved incredible success on the world's biggest sports stage.

From top to bottom

They rose to stardom in Tokyo by winning five-straight matches, including victories over the world's top two duos from Indonesia, to become champions.

But injuries and complacency set in, and of the 49 tournaments they participated in between the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, they reached only three finals, with the 2023 Japan Open their sole tournament victory.

Their struggles on the international stage were reflected in their fluctuating world ranking, which ranged between No. 2 and No. 20 from late 2022 to late 2023, during which they briefly parted ways.

Rather than accumulating titles as did Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) after winning silver in women's singles in Tokyo, the duo seemed to prefer amassing earnings from commercial endorsements.

They were actually fortunate to secure Taiwan's only men's doubles berth for Paris, their world No. 10 ranking on the April 28 qualification only about 4,500 points ahead of then No. 12 Taiwanese pair Lee Jhe-huei (李哲輝) and Yang Po-hsuan (楊博軒).

It was not surprising, therefore, to see an incredulous fan question Lee on social media during their run in Paris: "Why do you tend to get eliminated early in tournaments but always win at the Olympics? It was actually embarrassing when you finished second at the Taipei Open, where only lower-ranked players played?"

Low expectations, no pressure

Before the Olympics in Paris, Lee tried to put his best face on the duo's chances.

"The Games are all about who performs best during that period, so we'll try our best, hoping to conclude my last Games without regrets and move on to the next chapter," said Lee, who plans to teach at National Taiwan Sport University after retirement.

When their draw came out, most people thought they were doomed, unlikely to even emerge as one of the two teams from their preliminary round group.

Due to an error by the BWF, the Taiwanese pair was placed in a group of five teams, having to play one more game than teams in other groups, and three of teams were ranked second, sixth, and ninth when the tournament began.

Yet, Lee and Wang secured their second straight Olympic title without losing a single match by upsetting the Danish world No. 2 duo for the second time in the semis and the top seeds Liang Weikeng (梁偉鏗) and Wang Chang (王昶) from China in the final.

The lack of expectations may have actually helped them, given the burden of high expectations felt by other athletes in the sport.

Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) of China, who defeated Tai in the women's singles final in Tokyo for gold, said her loss in the quarterfinals in Paris on Saturday was more of a relief than a frustration.

"What I feel more is that I'm finally released from the overwhelming pressure and responsibilities over the past three years that have suffocated me," she wrote in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to X (formerly Twitter).

"At the moment when I lost, I suddenly felt I could breathe easily."

Following Sunday's victory, Wang noted that no one anticipated their win this time due to their general lack of success since the Tokyo Games, "but we played with much less stress as a result."

Even their coach, Chen Hung-lin (陳宏麟), Wang's former playing partner, said he did not foresee this outcome, but suggested that Lee's decision to retire motivated him to play without reservation.

New narratives

During the duo's improbable run in Paris, old public narratives were rekindled, including elevating the gold medal match into a struggle between oppressors and oppressed, particularly after Chinese individuals stripped spectators of items showing the word "Taiwan."

It was unclear, however, if Lee and Wang felt the same way.

"I was happy as long as we won gold, no matter who the opponents were," their coach said.

Just as Chen Yufei and her compatriot He Bingjiao (何冰嬌) have long shown respect for Tai, Liang and Wang congratulated Lee and Wang after their loss.

Having lived miracles on the court, the duo seems less interested in the glorification that comes with their triumphs. But they do hope their experience can be passed on to the next generation.

Lee, who did not make it to the top-tier badminton league in Taiwan until his freshman year in college, is soon to start teaching at a sports university.

"I'm not a very gifted player, but I've received a lot of help and so I'm usually figuring out whether I can develop new talent by helping those who are talented but lack resources," he said.

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