Cai Yun

Cai Yun almost retired at the age of 22 because of a heart condition. Instead, he underwent surgery and returned to the court. Cai had not won any senior international titles at any level before his 24th birthday. But he achieved great success later, fully demonstrating his effort and talent in the latter part of the career. Since 2004, Cai (at the front) and Fu Haifeng (at the back) won the silver medal at Beijing 2008, the gold medal at London 2012, four World Championships titles (2006, 2009 to 2011), five consecutive Thomas Cups (2004 to 2012), and six consecutive Sudirman Cups (2005 to 2015, an all-time record) with the Chinese team, becoming one of the most successful men’s doubles pairs in badminton history. After the 2013 World Championships, the Chinese national team decided to split the pair and partner each of them with a younger player, thinking that Cai would be too old for Rio 2016. Cai and Fu were inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame together in 2021.