I am proud to be granted a chance to watch a classic yet skillful match of Super Dan and my very own hero, Dato' Lee Chong Wei. That was a real final as the foe and friend fight their very best for themselves and for their country. I never miss a final match of Olympic badminton since 2004 at Athens, Greece where Taufik Hidayat shocked spectators to claimed the Olympic champion. At that particular time, Lin Dan was a major threat to everyone but luck was not on his side as he was ousted at the early stage by the unheralded Singaporean, Ronald Susilo. After the defeated, Lin Dan striked back and had won many major championship including four times world champion, five times All-England champion, and recently crowned double Olympic champion. The first man ever in the history of badminton Olympic to ever retained the title.What a huge resume he got.
On winning the Olympic crown again in London 2012, many had condemned him because of his arrogant-like attitude which I totally disagree. Mind you, he will never write his name in the history of badminton if it was not due to his attitude. If you say it's arrogant, I'll say it's a champion attitude. Every man react and behave differently. He may not be a double Olympic champion if he has a boy-next-door attitude. He's who he is. He enjoy every single moment on court by throwing his tantrum and yelling at himself. But you can't deny the spirit, aggressiveness. momentum, and the urge to win every games that he showed. That is not arrogant. That's what separate him from the rest of players including our own Lee Chong Wei. Dato' absolutely had the chance to surpass Lin Dan but he kept repeating the same mistakes and if we are talking about mental war, Dato' failed miserably. I will not blame him. He had given his best. It hurts seeing him crying, as many other Malaysian would felt the same too. If I have to put the blame on someone, I will have to choose the politician. Athletes are not burden bearers. Stop pressuring them and just mind your own business. You have to splash money to unite us, but our beloved athletes' just need to splash their sweats to unite us all.
In men doubles, the Chinese superstar-duo Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng finally grabbed the Olympic champion crown defeating the Dane, Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen who upset the mighty Korean, Lee Young Dae and Jung Jae Sung who won bronze medal defeating Koo Ken Kiet and Tan Boon Heong. It was the Chinese supreme moment as they first won their Olympic gold medal following huge upset in their homeland in Olympic Beijing 2008 as they lost to Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia. In the mix double, women single and double, the Chinese had elegently swept away all the Gold medals too. What a power. They took all the gold medal in London Olympic 2012.
Overall, it is satisfying to see a little twist like the Dane who fought hard to overcome the Chinese. What matter is effort. Supporters respect you for that. Though it was the Chinese glories here there and everywhere, the Chinese had mark a bad reputation too for their women double match set-up including Korean and Indonesian pair. Some fans support them claiming it was strategy, some are just disagree because it is against the spirit of Olympic. For me, it was a great call by Lund, to preserve the quality and enthusiasm in badminton games. When you play, play with dignity and respect. You knew you did something wrong when the supporters jeered instead of cheered for you. London badminton Olympic 2012 had ended its rail. Once again, London bow to the Chinese masters. Congratulation to everyone, players, organizer, and fans!
p/s: Athletics had started and I just can't sat still as my idols, Yelena Isinbayeva and Blanka Vlasic will rock the London arena. Lightning Bolt had stunned everyone with his cheerful attitude and broke his own Olympic record. I will try to steal some times and write about diving too. Sports are indeed entertaining!
