The résumé is complete for the two most dominant pairs of contemporary badminton, Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong and Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan. Their last remaining challenge, the Olympic gold, after faltering on the final step at Tokyo 2020, ensures a completeness to their careers, and elevates them among the all-time greats.

They were both favourites at Tokyo 2020, and their unexpected loss in the finals was a recurring topic over the last three years. Coming in to Paris 2024, there was little doubt that anything short of gold would have been seen as a lacuna in their careers. That they both won comprehensively is testament to how far ahead of the pack they are.

Early on in the competition, Zheng announced that the three-time world champions were in Paris for gold. He wasn’t hesitant about announcing his intentions. Given a stage like the Olympics, when the pressure is of a vastly different scale, and the tag of ‘favourites’ can unnerve even the very best, Zheng’s assertion spoke of the confidence he had that this time they had all bases covered. Zheng and Huang won the title without dropping a game. Only once did they face game points in their campaign – during their opening match against Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue.

Their most difficult opponents were reckoned to be compatriots Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping, but the top seeds brushed past them in the quarterfinals, before running through Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino and Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun.

“We’ve been waiting for this for many, many years and now is the day when our dreams came true,” Zheng said, after the final frontier had been conquered.

“At the last Olympics, we lost in the final. We said yesterday that this final was the starting point of these Olympics. Before we came here, our only goal was the gold medal, so now we are so extremely happy that we did it.”

Since losing the last Olympic final, Chen and Jia have shown their ability to dig even deeper than they used to. In the direst of circumstances they have kept the faith, stubbornly refusing to let go, and claiming wins from the jaws of defeat – whether in team or individual competitions.

Twice in their group the four-time world champions were in danger of losing a game, but both times they slammed the door shut in straight games. In the final, younger compatriots Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning had four game points at 20-16. Chen’s attitude at this point was revealing.

“When we were trailing, I was feeling rather tense, and then suddenly the tension went away. I cannot explain it; it felt surreal,” she said.

The top seeds would thwart their challengers in straight games. Jia’s revelation that she had spent a few days in hospital just a month ago was additional evidence of their hunger for redemption, their refusal to let anything stand in the way.

“It’s unbelievable. Until only a month ago, I was hospitalised with white lung pneumonia,” Jia said. “That sickness brought a lot of fear to me and to many of my compatriots. It was an incredible period of time. I had a high fever for four days without getting better.

“It was pretty bad. During a week of hospitalisation I was in pain and fear, because I knew my partner would be training by herself and I could only imagine how difficult it was for her. Even when I think about it today, it’s still difficult to imagine how I’ve been through the process.”

It has taken both pairs – Zheng/Huang and Chen/Jia – a decade to fulfil the biggest of their ambitions. As Chen said: “Maybe it had to take 10 years to get to this title.”