Lee Chong Wei

He is the fifth Malaysian player after Foo Kok Keong, Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler who has held the number one ranking for more than a year.

Lee is a triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, and the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal.

Datuk Lee Chong Wei (born 21 October 1982) is a Malaysian former professional badminton player.

Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad in 2000 when he was seventeen years old.

Lee picked up only one minor title during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

He reached his first final of a major tournament at the 2003 Malaysia Open where he was defeated by Chen Hong of China.

Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and the Chinese Taipei Open.

Lee gained a spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

In his first Olympic appearance, Lee defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round.

His journey ended in the second round when he was defeated by Chen Hong.

Lee scored another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia Open title and the Denmark Open.

Lee won a bronze in his first appearance in the world meet, the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semi-final.

Lee won three titles out of six finals in 2006.

He was crowned as the winner of the Swiss Open, Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title.

He also reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open and Hong Kong Open.

In the Malaysia Open, Lee fought back from 13–20 down in the rubber match and saved eight match points against Lin Dan, and finally won the game with a score of 23–21 to secure the title.

Lee won Malaysia's two gold medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games, in both the men's singles and mixed team events.

Lee reached the top spot twice in the Badminton World Federation's world rankings in 2006, and he participated in the World Championships as top seed.

However, he was upset by Bao Chunlai of China in the quarter-final despite Lee winning at their previous meeting.

The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of Lee.

Later on that season he took the Indonesia Open crown, his first title since the 2006 Malaysia Open after reuniting with former coach Misbun Sidek from Li Mao.

His performance at the second half of the year was solid, as he achieved three titles in the Philippines Open, the Japan Open, and the French Open.

He also managed to reach the final of the China Open and Hong Kong Open, despite his knee injury haunting him on both occasions.

Lee won all matches he played in the Sudirman Cup in June, despite Malaysia finishing just fifth in the tournament.

Lee's low point of the year was in the World Championships, despite the tournament being held in front of his home crowd and his solid performance during the second half of the year, he was defeated in the third round by Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro.

During the 2007 season, Lee failed to reach the final of the Malaysia Open for the first time in five years.

He also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward.

As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012.

He won his first silver medal in 2008, also the first time a Malaysian had reached the finals in the men's singles event.

This achievement earned him the title Datuk, and led to then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak describing him as a national hero.

He repeated the achievement twice more in 2012 and 2016, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.

On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after struggling to return to full fitness following a nose cancer diagnosis.

He was appointed as Malaysia's chef de mission for the 2020 Summer Olympics, but skipped the event due to his health concerns.

He retained his role, albeit serving it virtually.

On 2 May 2023, Lee was inducted to BWF Badminton Hall of Fame.

Lee was born in Bagan Serai, Perak, into a Malaysian Chinese family, to Lee Ah Chai and Khor Kim Choi.

In his early years, he favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court.

Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall.

He attracted the attention of local coach Teh Peng Huat, who asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student.

After receiving his father's consent, Teh began to train Lee after school.