Lee Yang (Chinese: 李洋; pinyin: Lǐ Yáng; born 12 August 1995) is a Taiwanese badminton player.[1] He is the Olympic men's doubles champion in 2020 and 2024, becoming the first unseeded men's doubles pair ever in olympic history to win consecutive gold medals.[2] Lee also won the bronze medals at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, as well at the 2023 Asian Championships. With his current partner Wang Chi-lin, they reached a career high as World number 2 in September 2022.[3]
In 2021, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he partnered with Wang Chi-lin to defeat the 2018 World Champion pairing of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the final. They became the first unseeded pair to win an Olympic gold in the men's doubles event and the first to win a gold in badminton for Chinese Taipei.[10]
In 2024, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, he and his partner Wang Chi-lin repeated the feat to win in the men's doubles finals as an unseeded pair,[11] making history to become the first men's doubles pair in history to defend their Olympic title.[2] After appearing in the 2024 Taipei Open, Lee retired from professional badminton,[12] and the farewell ceremony was held after the Taipei Open tournament on 9 September 2024.[13]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[14] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[15]
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,[16] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011.[17] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.