‘Queen of Shuttlecock’ Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance) won the Olympic singles gold medal for the first time in 28 years.
On the morning of August 5th (local time), in the women’s singles final of the 2024 Paris Olympics badminton held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris, France, South Korea’s An Se-young won the gold medal by defeating He Bingzhao (China) with a set score of 2-0 (21-13, 21-16).
This ‘golden smash’ by Ahn Se-young is the first gold medal in all badminton events in 16 years since Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung’s doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the first gold medal in singles in 28 years since Bang Soo-hyun’s victory at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
An Se-young, ranked No. 1 in the world in women’s singles, advanced to the finals by defeating No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals and No. 8 Tunjung of Indonesia in the semifinals, both of whom were ranked No. 1, using her strong defensive skills.
An Se-young’s opponent in the final is He Bingzhao of China, ranked 9th in the world. She has a very advantageous record against him, but He Bingzhao has already conserved her stamina as she easily advanced to the semifinals after suffering an ankle injury during the match against Carolina Marin (Spain), ranked 5th.
Moreover, the player who had advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating China’s Chen Weifei, ranked 2nd in the world and considered Ahn Se-young’s greatest natural enemy, was none other than He Bingzhao, so it was not a situation where she could be completely at ease.
However, An Se-young, who had started the match having lost the first set in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, seemed aware of this and pressed He Bing-jiao hard from the start. Her signature suffocating defense quickly wore down the attacking He Bing-jiao, and when her opponent let down their guard due to her excessive attacking, she unleashed a devastating smash to win the first game 21-13, an eight-point lead.
In Game 2, Ahn Se-young solidified her defense and dominated the game. Although the score was tied at 11-11, Ahn Se-young regained her composure and quickly reached 20 set points, ultimately ending the match with a 21-16 victory.
