Three years ago Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan stood on the podium, having finished second best after being favourites for gold.
This time, with just a month to go for Paris 2024, Jia had to be hospitalised with pneumonia. “I was in fear and pain for seven days,” she said. “It’s difficult to imagine how I came through that”.
And yet, neither pneumonia nor the best of the rest could stop Jia and Chen from completing the final step of the journey on which they had slipped last time.
It wasn’t easy in the final either, against young compatriots Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning, their likely successors at the top of the women’s game in the coming years.
The first game was an encapsulation of women’s doubles at its finest, and an illustration of how far Chen and Jia have come in building the mental fortress that has become so difficult to breach for opponents. Just as she conquered her sickness to be ready for the Olympics, Jia and Chen refused to buckle at four game points down in the first game, denying their compatriots critical momentum.
Liu and Tan, playing at a frenetic pace and leveraging their powerful game from the back, had a 20-16 lead that would have put them a game ahead. It was at this point that Chen and Jia showed what they were made of. Six straight points, and the top seeds were riding ahead.
Liu and Tan kept up the challenge until late in the second game, but Chen and Jia’s momentum was too strong for them to hold back.
In the bronze medal playoff, Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida were comfortable winners over Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan, 21-11 21-11.
“Last time, even though we finished second, we were satisfied. There could only be one silver medallist,” said Jia. “Of course this time I got gold and today I felt calm compared to the last Olympic Games, when my feelings were more complicated.”
Jia went on to talk about the hospital stint that had threatened her chances of competing in Paris.
“It’s unbelievable. A month ago I was in hospital, and that sickness brought fear to my compatriots. I had high fever for four days and I was diagnosed with white lung pneumonia.”
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