The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
If Lin Dan is a myth in the badminton world, then Lee Chong Wei, as the second millennium old, is a legend in the badminton world.
But as soon as this legend met Lin Dan, he wilted, after all, the legend is still slightly inferior to mythology, and there is a sense of sadness that is both Yu and Liang.
Because if there are two of them in a game at the same time, then the position of the champion and runner-up is basically covered by them, and even Lin Dan respects him as an opponent very much.
However, this opponent announced his retirement due to cancer at the age of 36, which made the entire badminton world feel sorry, so what happened back then?
01
Brotherhood with Lin Dan
To describe Lin Dan and Li Zongwei in eight words, that is: "love and kill each other, and achieve each other". Whether it is Lin Dan or Li Zongwei, their strength is the best in each country, they have been competing with each other since the age of 17 or 8, and the two young lives collide with a different kind of gunpowder flavor.
It can be said that the game with Li Zongwei and Lin Dan is wonderful, they basically put out 120% effort on the field, hard work, hoping to win this game.
At the age of 17, Lee Chong Wei entered the national team, and in 2000, he met his lifelong rival, Lin Dan, who was his lifelong rival when he participated in an Asian-level competition, but this time the two did not stand on opposite sides, and Lee Chong Wei only won a bronze medal.
This is still a big gap for Li Zongwei, who has set the world title as his goal, but he doesn't know that once Lin Dan is on the opposite side of him, his road to the championship will be far away.
The moment came soon, and the first meeting between Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan was at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Lee Chong Wei had been looking forward to this world-class event for a long, long time.
Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the 16-8 match, and it seems that the world-class competition and the Asian competition are really not at the same level.
The Malaysian coach saw that Lee Chong Wei worked so hard and specially invited a Chinese coach to guide Li Chongwei, and Li Chongwei did not reject him because of nationality, and the two of them had a difficult and fulfilling time.
Sure enough, the hard work paid off, and Lee Chong Wei won the title at the Taipei Open, but there was still a long way to go to reach his goal.
After this competition, it was clear that Lee Chong Wei had increased his self-confidence, he always stayed until the last one on the training ground, and he was the first to come every morning, and day after day, he finally waited for his chance.
In 2008, the Beijing Olympics was held as scheduled, this time Li Zongwei did not disappoint the coach, after a tense competition, finally came to the final scene, this time he and Lin Dan became opponents again.
However, the name of "Super Dan" was not called in vain, and in the end, Li Zongwei unfortunately lost to Lin Dan 0:2, won the runner-up in this game, and won the silver medal.
In the 2011 London World Championships, Li Chongwei played against Lin Dan again, this time the score Li Zongwei bit very tightly, and when it was almost possible to win the championship, he was still turned over by Lin Dan against the wind and lost again.
According to statistics, Li Zongwei and Lin Dan have fought a total of 40 times, Li Zongwei has lost 28 times, and he has lost every game, and he has a temper, so Li Zongwei thinks that if he defeats Lin Dan, he can win the world championship, which has also become his obsession.
In a match, Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei also formed a deep friendship.
The reason why Li Zongwei is the second in the millennium is not because he is not excellent, but because the opponent is too strong, and it all starts from his birth.
02
Children of ordinary families
Lee Chong Wei was born in 1982 in a poor family in Malathia, although he was born there, Lee Chong Wei is really a Chinese child, and settled in Malaysia because of his parents.
Li Zongwei still has three older brothers and sisters on his head, and his parents have been running around for a long time, even if this is the case, the family is poor, and some people suggest that parents give away the youngest child so that the family can be more relaxed, but Li Zongwei's parents looked down and saw that the little Li Zongwei was babbling to hug, and his heart was soft.
There was no way, Li's mother still left Li Zongwei in her own home, and the husband and wife could only work harder, and they could barely take care of the family's food and clothing.
Later, Li Zongwei's brothers and sisters gradually grew up, and they began to drop out of school to work to subsidize the family, so that the family was relieved all of a sudden.
Just when everything was going in a good direction, the diminutive Lee Chong Wei caught the attention of his parents, and according to the normal growth rate, Lee Chong Wei should be much taller than he is now.
So in order to train their children, their parents began to let Lee Chong Wei practice basketball, and Lee Chong Wei did have a talent in it, and even entered the Malaysian state team.
But because he practiced basketball outdoors all the year round, Li Zongwei was black and swarthy, and he didn't grow much taller, his parents felt sorry for him, so they asked him to stop practicing basketball, plus Li Zongwei really doesn't like basketball very much, so he won't practice if he doesn't practice.
But Lee Chong Wei's father likes badminton very much and often takes Lee Chong Wei to play on the court, and it is precisely because of this that Lee Chong Wei was taken by the Malaysian badminton coach, so he asked Lee Chong Wei to practice with him.
Because practicing sports requires physical strength, Li Zongwei's parents looked at the thin and small Li Zongwei and disagreed at first, and said that the child should just play as a hobby, and there is no need for systematic training.
But this time, it seems that he ran into Li Zongwei's reverse scales, saying that he would learn badminton with the coach, so his parents still agreed half-pushed.
In 1999, after hard training, Lee Chong Wei won the Malaysia National Championship in 1999, and Lee Chong Wei entered the national team.
Although he has lost to Lin Dan many times in future competitions, his reputation as a Malaysian men's singles brother has not changed, because as long as he does not touch Lin Dan, he basically wins.
It was during this period that he met the love of his life, his current wife, Kim Mi-joo.
03
Wonderful love story
Li Zongwei and his wife met in 2004, when the two of them were very ambitious, so there was no spark.
At that time, the two of them got along as friends, trained together, and encouraged each other, but love came at such an inadvertent moment, and the two people had some different feelings over time.
After confirming the relationship, Huang Miaozhu still accompanies Li Zongwei inch by the side, but Li Zongwei is busy playing games and has no idea of getting married, but Huang Miaozhu doesn't care at all, which also makes Li Zongwei, who is aware of it later, very guilty.
Li Zongwei, who came back to his senses, immediately wanted to marry Huang Miaozhu home, but marriage is not a trivial matter, and it has to be considered in the long run. Coincidentally, during this period, someone in Huang Miaozhu's family died, according to local customs, if the family wants to hold a wedding this year, it must be completed within 100 days, otherwise it will have to wait until 3 years later.
Now Li Zongwei should step up, he can't wait, so he began to prepare for the wedding wholeheartedly, and finally after more than 40 days, Li Zongwei finally returned to the beauty.
After that, Lee Chong Wei seemed to open the second line of Ren Du and won the championship of the BWF Super Series, but he still couldn't escape this curse, and lost to that god-like man in the subsequent matches: Lin Dan.
In order to defeat this "god", Li Zongwei practiced hard and won the championship in many subsequent competitions, but none of these competitions were Lin Dan.
In the 2016 Olympic Games, he finally defeated Lin Dan with his own strength, but he was not happy for long, Li Zongwei lost to another Chinese athlete Chen Long in the finals, and won the runner-up again.
But during this period, his wife Huang Miaozhu gave birth to two sons for Li Zongwei, who were pink and cute, which also gave him a trace of comfort.
But soon Li Zongwei once again discovered the ruthlessness of fate, and after 2016, he gradually found that his body was different.
04
The fight against cancer
In July 2018, Li Zongwei participated in the World Championships in Nanjing, but suddenly because he was unwell, he hurriedly gave up the competition and went to the hospital for examination, and even announced that he would not participate in the next few games.
After that, Lee Chong Wei was silent for two months, and finally a report in Malaysia in September shocked everyone like a thunderbolt, Lee Chong Wei was officially diagnosed with early nose cancer, ready to be treated in China, and he will not be seen in the field for a long time to come.
Lee Chong Wei's illness has brought serious losses to the badminton world, especially in Malaysia, the appearance of Lee Chong Wei has given them hope, but now this hope seems to be leaving them.
But fortunately, Li Zongwei found it in a timely manner, and there is still a possibility of curing it by actively participating in the treatment, if the situation is optimistic, Li Zongwei will be able to stand on the field again in 2019, but the specific situation depends on his physical condition.
During the treatment, Li Zongwei encountered the greatest ordeal in history, even far more than the victory over Lin Dan, when the disease attacked, the entire throat would ulcerate, making him unable to open his mouth to speak, and even inhaling a breath felt pain, and could only continue to deliver nutrient solution to the body to maintain vital signs.
At this time, Li Zongwei's youngest son was just 3 years old, and Huang Miaozhu was even more lacking, taking care of the child while taking care of Li Zongwei, which made him very guilty.
In order to be able to overcome the disease and take on the responsibility of supporting his family, Li Zongwei gritted his teeth and insisted on every electrotherapy, and whenever he couldn't hold on, he thought about his wife and children, as well as his parents and older brothers and sisters, Li Zongwei could always burst out with unimaginable perseverance.
In this way, during the treatment, after countless electrotherapy and other surgeries, Li Zongwei spent 10 million, but fortunately, the results were not bad, and Li Zongwei's health has improved in 2019.
But after standing on the field, Li Zongwei found that he could no longer burst out of his previous energy, and finally announced his retirement in a helpless situation.
After retiring, Lin Dan also posted a parting song on social platforms with the text: No one will accompany me in the future.
Lee Chong Wei's biggest regret is that he has not won a gold medal in the Olympic Games, and after this illness, this goal can no longer be achieved.
After retiring from the sport, Lee Chong Wei focused all his life on his family, and thanks to his family for so many years, he was able to dominate the game.
Now, six years later, although Lee Chong Wei is no longer a professional athlete, his legend still circulates on the sports field.
Later, Lee Chong Wei became the coach of the Malaysian badminton national team, and continued to shine in the field he is good at, in 2022, Lee Chong Wei's third child was born, and in 2023, Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan entered the Badminton World Hall of Fame together, and he and his lifelong enemy once again clenched their fists and wanted to use them.
Although he did not achieve his goal, Li Zongwei's current family of five lives happily, which is enough for him.
Resources
[1] People's Daily: In May 2023 [Lin Dan and Li Zongwei were inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame ceremony held]
[2] Interface News: June 13, 2019: ["Person" Li Zongwei: Loser, no regrets]