Luciana Aranguiz
07/11/2020 - 9:03
- Clarín.com
- sports
Chinese Lin Dan , the best badminton player in history, announced his retirement at the age of 36, after having won two Olympic gold medals and five world titles, and having won the seven most important tournaments in his sport. However, when this news was made public, it wasn't the impressive hegemony that built what fans remembered on social media. It is that an extramarital romance with romantic touches with a famous Chinese actress and model almost cost his status as "hero" of his country.
He was born in 1983 in Longyan and when he was just five years old he took a badminton racket for the first time. His parents wanted him to be a pianist, but he fell in love with the sport. It was the beginning of a story full of successes.
Since his professional debut at age 18, he has been the great dominator of the international scene. He won his first Olympic title in Beijing 2008 and repeated the celebration in London 2012, making him the first to defend a gold since his sport's debut in the Olympic program in Barcelona 1992. He won five world crowns between 2006 and 2013.
And in 2011, he touched the sky with his hands by completing the Super Grand Slam: winning the Olympics, a World Cup, the World Cup, the Thomas Cup, the Sudirman Cup, the Super Series Masters Final, the All England Open, the Asian Games and the Asian Championship. He was the first in history to do so.
In London 2012 he took the gold, the second after Beijing 2008, and became the first player in history to defend the Olympic title since the debut of his sport in the Olympic program in Barcelona 1992.
Those achievements, added to his extraordinary talent as a player and his charisma, made him an icon of Chinese sports.
Towards the end of 2016, his life seemed perfect. The fans adored him, the children wanted to follow in his footsteps, and all his compatriots watched his games and celebrated his victories every time he came out onto the field.
In October of that year, he also welcomed his first child, Xiao Yi, with his wife Xie Xingtang, a former badminton player and world champion with whom he had started a relationship in 2003 and married in 2012. Together they were a kind ofBadminton "royal family", which is as popular in its country as soccer in Argentina.
Everything was rosy in Super Dan's life , as his compatriots nicknamed him. Until the scandal erupted that jeopardized his reputation, his marriage, and left him at the center of criticism.
A few weeks after the birth of her son, photos of the player appeared along with Zhao Yaqi , a famous actress and model , on Weibo , a Chinese social network similar to Facebook . The post went viral, was shared by more than 200,000 people, and had close to 40,000 comments.
It added five world titles. The last one, in 2013.Photo: ITTF
The outrage was national. People mercilessly beat the champion. "A shameless mistake has sent you from heaven to hell," wrote a user of that social network. Another wondered, "Did you know you were the pride of 1.3 billion Chinese? Now what?" And there were those who assured: "No matter how extraordinary your sporting achievements are: you will never be a good father or husband. This is unforgivable. You have neglected your responsibilities as a man."
The admission of guilt and the tepid apology Dan outlined did not help calm things down. " As a man, I will not defend myself. But my behavior hurt my family. I apologize. I am sorry," he said on that website. Neither did the fact that his wife publicly forgave him. In China, for weeks, nothing else was discussed.
"I have dedicated 20 years of my life to this sport that I love and now it is time to say goodbye," he said a few days ago when announcing his retirement. Photo: ITTF
The passing of the years calmed the anger of the fans, but did not make them forget. When at the beginning of this week, Dan announced on the networks that he was hanging the racket - "I have dedicated 20 years of my life to this sport that I love, now is the time to say goodbye," he said-, among the messages of congratulations for his great career there was much harsh criticism for what happened almost four years ago.
Some of his fans never forgave him. But Dan did so much for his country's sport that his reputation survived that novel-worthy scandal. That is why, beyond these new criticisms, in China they celebrate the career of their great champion, the national hero, the player who made history with a badminton racket.
HS