China’s 2-time Olympic champion Lin Dan, fondly called “Super Dan” by fans across the world ” Super Dan” announced his retirement on social media yesterday(Jul 4), ending his 20-year national team career.
Which also means he will not compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His career has tailed off in recent years as age and injuries took their toll, reported by Straits Times.
The end of Lin’s glorious career comes just over a year after the retirement of his great rival and friend, the Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei.
His weibo post went viral, the post came with a caption:
2000-2020, After 20 years, I have to say goodbye to the national team. It is very difficult to speak it out.
On 2000, I’m very proud to be ” Lin Dan From China” My family, coaches, team-mates and fans have accompanied me through many peaks and difficult troughs, every forceful jump was a desire for victory. I have dedicated everything to this sport I love.
‘Persevere’, I said to myself in every moment of suffering, so that my sporting career could be prolonged.
Rather than simply pursuing rankings as I did when I was younger, in these years, I have been wanting to challenge the physical limits of an ‘old’ athlete and practise the sporting spirit that I will never give up.
However, my physical abilities and pain no longer allow me to fight alongside my team-mates.
We knew this day would arrive, Heavy moment of our lives; You pulled down the curtain gracefully, You were king where we fought so proudly; Your final wave all four disappear, Within the hush of silent tear #lindan
Whatever it is, you are still the ” Super Dan” for us ..