Lee Chong Wei | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 李宗偉 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 李宗伟 | ||||||||||
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Datuk Lee Chong Wei DB, DCSM, PJN, DSPN, AMN, JP, PhD(SptsSc) (h.c.) (Chinese: 李宗伟; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lí Chong-úi; born 21 October 1982) is a Malaysian former professional badminton player. 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.[1][2] 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.[3] On 2 May 2023, Lee was inducted to BWF Badminton Hall of Fame.[4][5] He is considered in sources as one of the greatest badminton players of all time.[6][7]
Lee is a triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, and the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal.[3] 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.[8] He repeated the achievement twice more in 2012 and 2016, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.[9]
On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after struggling to return to full fitness following a nose cancer diagnosis.[10] He was appointed as Malaysia's chef de mission for the 2020 Summer Olympics,[11] but skipped the event due to his health concerns. He retained his role, albeit serving it virtually.[12][13]