Olympic/World Championship titles vs. consistency through the season

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There has always been a debate about what matters more in badminton, an Olympic medal or World Championship title, or consistency through the regular season. This is what separates Lin Dan from Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelsen from KentoMomoa, and Chen Yufei from Tai Tzu Ying. The former in each pair have an Olympic gold medal, while the latter have a higher number of titles in the badminton tournaments that run all year.

While remaining consistent all season and winning matches week after week requires a skill of its own, it often gets overshadowed by Olympic titles, when players are compared every four years. One of the greatest names in consistent tennis is that of Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, who has won neither an Olympic gold medal, nor a World Championship, but picked up an impressive 69 Tour titles, which is a record of its own.

In contrast, Lin Dan has won 59 titles, along with 2 Olympic gold medals, and 5 World championship titles. Among the younger generation, KentoMomota has won 29 Tour titles, 2 World Championships, and 2 Asian championships. In comparison, Viktor Axelsen has won 28 titles, 2 World Championships, 3 European titles and the Tokyo Olympic gold. In the 2019-2020 season he won a record making 10 Tour titles, which have contributed to his comparisons with Axelsen.

Similarly, in women’s badminton comparisons abound between Chen Yufei, Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi and Carolina Marin who have won 10, 14, 10 and 7 Tour titles respectively. The comparisons are interesting as Marin has 3 World titles and one Olympic medal, which Tai Tzu Ying does not. Interestingly, PV Sindhu, who has only 4 Tour titles, has 2 Olympic medals, and a record making 5 World Championship medals.

The comparison between Olympic and World titles, and consistency, is well demonstrated in the case of Singaporean Loh Kean Yew. The winner of the 2021 World Championship, qualified to the quarterfinals of 14 tournaments but failed to win any. According to Loh, he is currently involved with finding himself and his sport, while accepting that the process could take anywhere from a month,to two years.