The first men’s doubles pair – and only the third pair ever – to defend their Olympic gold.

Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, having arrived in Paris ranked outside the top 10 and hardly any recent accomplishments to speak of, emerged from the pressure-cooker cauldron of the Porte de la Chapelle Arena with a second successive gold medal.

The difference over runners-up Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang? Just two points.

You could, as the saying goes, cut the atmosphere with a knife. For every bit of its 76 minutes, it was a game fought inch by inch, until it came to a boil late in the third game. Amidst all the tumult, the frenzied chanting by fans and the waves of euphoria and dejection with every point, the four players in the rectangle kept their nerve, incredibly.

“If you see the scores you can see how tense it was,” Wang Chang said. “There was never a wide gap, it was just a couple of points. It was one of the most tense games we’ve played.”

Of the four, Lee was the standout, throwing heart and soul into attack and defence, and pepping up his partner who was flagging in the second game.

“Last time in Tokyo not many knew us but this time a lot of people could recognise us,” said Lee. “In the past three years we didn’t play that well. Before we came to Paris we heard some voices didn’t want us to represent Chinese Taipei. I’m happy that with such tough competition – and we were in the toughest group (D) – we still won the gold medal. I’m very happy that our efforts were seen by everyone.”

His partner Wang Chi-Lin talked of the exhaustion they experienced and their relief at having come through.

“Before the competition we experienced a lot of ups and downs, there were a lot of doubts and finally we proved ourselves again at the Olympics.

“They (Liang/Wang) gave us a lot of pressure and it was quite challenging. In the third game we almost exhausted our strength but we received a lot of support and we are very happy we finally achieved the victory.”

The bronze medal playoff earlier saw Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik recover from four match points down against Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, holding off the Danes in a sensational contest: 16-21 22-20 21-19.

Men’s doubles couldn’t have asked for better advertisement on the biggest stage of all.