From Joanne Goode to Carolina Marin: 10 female badminton Olympic medallists representing non-Asian nations
Only a select few female players representing countries outside Asia have won a medal in badminton at the Olympics prior to the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021. Here we take a look at all ten.
Badminton
Badminton officially joined the Olympic programme at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
The winner of the women's singles competition had the honour of receiving the very first official badminton medal in Olympic history. And that privilege went to Indonesia's Susi Susanti.
Asian nations have dominated the sport, and Asian female players have always held centre stage during the Olympic Games. They swept all medals available in Barcelona, as well as at the subsequent Games in Atlanta in 1996. In total, 50 of the 60 medals on offer prior to Tokyo 2020 have been scooped up by females playing for Asian countries, with Chinese women taking the lion's share of the haul.
Let's take a look at the ten females who have won an Olympic medal in badminton representing nations outside Asia.
1 - Joanne Goode (Great Britain) - mixed doubles bronze
Great Britain's Joanne Goode made history by becoming the first non-Asian woman to clinch an Olympic medal in badminton, at Sydney 2000.
Goode, together with her mixed doubles partner Simon Archer, won the bronze medal playoff match against the higher-seeded Danish pair of Sogaard Michael and Olsen Rikke.
In doing so, not only did Goode end the wait for a non-Asian female to win a medal in badminton, but together with her partner, they clinched Great Britain's maiden medal in the sport at the Games.
2 - Camilla Martin (Denmark) - women's singles silver
Camila Martin from Denmark had the honour of becoming the first female singles player to break the Asian players' stranglehold on Olympic medals.
The Danish player, who was seeded second at Sydney 2000, denied China a guaranteed gold medal when she defeated fourth seed Dai Yun in the semi-final to guarantee herself a spot on the podium.
Martin faced top seed Gong Zhichao in the final, and the Chinese player proved too formidable an opponent for the Dane. Nevertheless, Martin entered the history books.
3 - Mia Audina Tjiptawan (The Netherlands) - women's singles silver
Mia Audina Tjiptawan won Olympic silver for the Netherlands at Athens 2004.
Tjiptawan was born in Indonesia and competed for her country of birth prior to switching nationalities. She won women's singles silver at Atlanta 1996 competing for Indonesia.
At Sydney 2000, representing the Netherlands, Tjiptawan reached the quarter-finals where she faced-off against Denmark's Camilla Martin. Her hopes of back-to-back medals came to an end when the Dane beat her in straight sets.
Tjiptawan returned for her final Olympic outing at Athens 2004 and managed to reach the finals. She took the opening game against Zhang Ning, but the Chinese player prevailed winning the next two games to clinch gold. Tjiptawan received her second Olympic silver and her first representing the Netherlands.
4 - Mette Schjoldager (Denmark) - mixed doubles bronze
Mette Schjoldager from Denmark won mixed doubles bronze at Athens 2004 together with her partner Jens Eriksen.
The Danish pair defeated their compatriots Jonas Rasmussen and Sikke Olsen to clinch the final podium position.
Schjoldager not only competed in the mixed doubles but also played in the women's doubles with her partner in Pernille Harder, but they were eliminated in the round of 16.
The Danish woman was obviously delighted that her second attempt to medal bore fruit, having been eliminated in the mixed doubles quarterfinals at Sydney 2000.
5 - Gail Emms (Great Britain) - mixed doubles silver
Gail Emms helped Great Britain win its second badminton medal at the Olympic Games.
Together with her partner Nathan Robertson, she won mixed doubles silver at Athens 2004, after being defeated by the second seeds from China, Zhang Jun and Gao Ling who successfully defended the title they had won four years earlier.
Emms and her Robertson would go on to become world champions as well as Commonwealth Games champions in 2006.
6 & 7 - Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova (Russia) - women's doubles bronze
It took six editions of the Games before a non-Asian female pair were able to clinch a medal in women's doubles
Russia's Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova became the first pair to podium when they clinched bronze at London 2012.
The pair would have been eliminated in the group stage where they had already lost to the top seeds from China and the third seeds from South Korea. However when the Asian pairs faced off in their final group encounter, both pairs attempted to lose the match to gain a more favourable route to the final. This resulted in both pairs being disqualified from the tournament and Sorokina and Vislova were given a lifeline in the competition as they advanced to the knock our stage.
They then made it to the semi-finals but lost to the second seeds from China, Tian Qing, and Zhao Yunlei who eventually went on to win gold.
In the bronze medal match they faced their group stage opponents from Canada and beat them for the second time in the tournament to earn Russia's one and only badminton Olympic medal.
8 - Christina Pedersen (Denmark) - mixed doubles bronze
Christina Pedersen became the third woman from Denmark to win an Olympic medal in badminton.
Together with her mixed doubles partner, Joachim Fischer Nielsen, she won bronze at London 2012.
Pedersen and Fischer Nielsen enjoyed quite a successful career which included two world championship medals and being ranked top in the world in 2015.
Like most doubles players from Europe, Pedersen plays in both mixed doubles as well as women's doubles and as a result has a second Olympic medal to her name, which takes us to our next non-Asian female who has won an Olympic medal in badminton.
9 - Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark) - women's doubles silver
Kamilla Rytter Juhl together with her Christina Pedersen clinched women's doubles silver at Rio 2016.
The unseeded Danes beat the second seeds from China in a closely fought semi-final match to guarantee themselves a medal at the Games.
In their final match against Japan's Matsutomo Misaki and Takahashi Ayaka, Rytter Juhl and Pedersen held the upper hand after the first game. However the top seeds fought back to force a decider and went on to snatch gold in after narrowly winning the third game.
No non-Asian pairing has ever won Olympic gold in badminton, but Rytter Juhl can be proud of her silver, and her partner, both on and off court, Pedersen added a second Olympic medal to her collection.
10 - Carolina Marin (Spain) - women's singles gold
Carolina Marin from Spain made history when she became the first player from outside of Asia to win the women's singles title at the Olympic Games.
The Spaniard clinched gold at Rio 2016, earning her nation their maiden Olympic medal in the sport.
After easily clearing the group stage, Marin beat South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-finals encounter against London 2012 gold medallist Li Xuerei from China. The Spaniard got the better of her Asian opponent and faced off against India's P.V. Sindhu from India.
After narrowly losing the opening game, Marin responded and went on to win the next two games to become the first woman from outside Asia to win Olympic gold.
Marin also has three world titles to her name and has won the European Championship five times in a row.
The Spaniard has clearly stated that her objective would be to defend her Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 and saw up another world title at the end of the year.
Whatever the outcome, Marin has already etched her name in badminton's history book.