There are several non-seeded badminton athletes who have won Olympic gold medals. Here are the list:
Kim Dong-moon/Gil Young-ah (Olympic Atlanta 1996)
South Korea’s mixed doubles performed at the Atlanta Olympics with unseeded status, but they could take home the gold medal. In the final match, Kim/Gil defeated their seniors, Park Joo-bong/Rya Kyung-min with a score of 13-15, 15-5, 15-12.
Taufik Hidayat (Athenian Olympiad 2004)
Taufik Hidayat managed to climb the highest podium at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He presented a gold medal for Indonesia even though his status was not a superior player in the men’s singles sector.
On his way to gold, Taufik tripped a number of seeds. In the second round, Taufik defeated the third seed from Malaysia, Wong Choong Han. Then, in the quarter-finals, he knocked out sixth seed Peter Gade (Denmark). Meanwhile, in the top match, Taufik won over the seventh seed from South Korea, Shon Seung-mo, in two straight games with a score of 15-8, 15-7.
Lee Yong-dae/Lee Hyo-jung (Beijing 2008 Olympics)
South Korea’s mixed doubles sector once again made a surprise. This time through Lee Yong-dae/Lee Hyo-jung at the Beijing Olympics. They won the gold medal after defeating the first seed from Indonesia Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir in the final with a score of 21-12, 21-17.
Lee Yang/Wang Chi Lin (Tokyo 2020 Olympics)
Taiwan’s men’s doubles proves that winning gold does not need to be seeded. They even beat all the top status players. In the group stage, Lee/Wang defeated first seed from Indonesia Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjata Sukamuljo. Then, in the quarter-finals, they tackled the host’s men’s doubles, Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe, who were the fourth seed.
Then, the world number three men’s doubles eliminated the second seed from Indonesia, Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan in the semifinals. At the peak, Lee/Wang won 21-18, 21-12 over third seed Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen (China) in the final.
Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu (Tokyo 2020 Olympics)
They came to the Tokyo Olympics with unseeded status. However, they managed to win the gold medal. On the way to the highest podium, Greysia/Apriyani were able to beat a series of women’s doubles with the status of top seeded.
In the group stage, they defeated the representatives of the hosts Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota who are the world’s number one women’s doubles, as well as the first seed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Greysia/Apriyani won after fighting for three games with Yuki/Sayaka. The score is 24-22, 13-21, 21-8.
Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu again stopped the leading players in the semifinals. The victim is Lee So-hee/Shin Seung Chan (South Korea), who is the fourth seed. They won two straight games over Lee/Shin with a pretty tight score 21-19, 21-17.
Then, in the top party, Greysia / Apriyani won the duel against the second seed from China Chen Qing ChenJia Yi Fan with a score of 21-19, 21-15.
