From her high perch in the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, Bang Soo Hyun witnessed an event not seen in 28 years.
As her countrywoman An Se Young stepped on the podium to claim her gold medal, Bang’s thoughts immediately went back to 1996, when she was on the podium, crowned Olympic champion. Since then no Korean player has been in a women’s singles final.
Bang was at Paris 2024 as commentator for a Korean TV network, and she’d had a nervous night. She knew An was favourite for the gold; yet she also knew what it was like to lose in a final. She’d been there during badminton’s debut at the Olympics in 1992, making the final, but falling to Indonesia’s Susi Susanti.
“I was very upset,” she said, “but I didn’t cry”.
Four years later she would reverse that result, this time getting the better of Susanti’s teammate Mia Audina.
The nervousness eased with An settling into her unique rhythm, and there was never a point when she was under threat. With the same precision her country’s top shooters and archers displayed, An pinged the shuttle to the right spots, at the exact depth, height and angle to keep He Bing Jiao from imposing her skillful game. Earlier in the tournament players had talked of the troublesome drift, but such was An’s control that the shuttle were drawn to the lines. One instant review call by He showed the shuttle had fallen on the outside half of the line.
With An holding four match points, Bang stiffened in her seat. It took two more points before a shuttle from the Chinese landed long, and An slumped to the floor. Bang shot out her hands in triumph, then buried her heads in her hands, before sitting back and wiping her tears.
“I didn’t cry even when I won the gold,” Bang said. “But today, when she did, I started crying.
“It was so exciting. I was so nervous on match point. It is very emotional for me. An is a very good player, so I was very excited. I thought she would win the gold medal, but I was very nervous.”
Bang would be there for the press conference as well, watching An field questions on her journey. The biggest bump on the road – one that had threatened to derail her quest – was the right knee injury she’d suffered at the Asian Games last October. The injury had been misdiagnosed and she continued to play, unaware of its severity.
A re-diagnosis in December showed she didn’t have time left for surgery, and she had to manage with the pain. Competing with a heavily strapped knee for months, she would go on to win three tournaments in four finals before coming to the Olympics.
“It was very difficult to overcome the pain,” An said. “There was a misdiagnosis, and at the end of last year we found it was very bad but we didn’t have time for surgery, so we had to push through and my trainer helped me and that’s why I was able to come here.
“I never skipped my workout. I always push myself to the extreme … I never missed running every morning and I worked on building my stamina. And I never give up. Those attributes led me to the gold.”
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