Historically speaking, lower-ranked players won Olympic games more often than top-ranked players; in fact, Lin Dan remains the only top seed to win Olympic Games in Men's Singles. LCW is the top seed for 2012 Olympic Games as well as 2016 Olympic Games.
From the point of view of China after LCW's return, they desperately want Chen Long to remain as NO. 1 player and boost LD to NO 2 player. That is the reason behind hectic schedule for LD. LD participates in even more tournaments compared with LCW. But LCW becomes World NO 1. It is now depending on luck to see which draw LD would be in.
The Olympics, a quadrennial event, and the World Championships, an annual event, are regarded as the most important, the most coveted and sought-after titles above any of the Premier Superseries for a number of reasons. First, the title itself carries more weight. Second, though there's no prize money, the rewards to the winners back home whether from their government or private sponsors are lucrative. In some countries the Olympic gold medalist get a big sum of cash, a house, a car, in some cases a lifetime pension, various big-name sponsorship contracts, and/or even exemption from serving other national duties such as in the armed forces; in effect the winner is made for life, as in Jamaica, Kenya. The stakes are very high indeed as compared with winning any or all of the PSS or becoming WR1. Three, for the fact that all the athletes without exception devote a large part of their career training, preparing, doing their utmost, even making personal sacrifices, all towards the goal of winning Olympic gold. Even the Asian Games, a multi-sport event, the equivalent of Asian Olympics, is considered more important by most Asian athletes than the PSS, whether it's for national honour or personal glory. Fourth, why do you think LCW is so dejected every time he loses the Olympics and World Championships to Lin Dan, including the last two WC to Chen Long ? Despite LCW having won more PSS/SS titles than these two archrivals and having the WR1 status for a considerable longer period than them ? What wouldn't LCW give in exchange for just one OG gold or WC title ? That's why until today, despite repeated failures and age catching up and time running out, he is still at it, not satisfied with owning 63 other titles to date and regaining the WR1 position and retaining it much longer than anyone else. I'm damn sure he won't want to retire with regrets at not having won at least one OG or WC crown. In fact, when asked by an interviewer/reporter the other day, he said he hasn't made up his mind to retire yet after Rio whatever the outcome. No further elaboration necessary, I think. By the way, I agree, clinching an Olympic gold alone is not enough to qualify a player's greatness; I'm even quite reluctant to admit it should be a defining moment of an athlete's career. However, In Lin Dan's case, he did it twice, and he's also crowned World Champion five times, not to mention a host of other titles, numerous, such as the PSS/SS, three AG individual championships, five (or six?) Badminton Asia Championships, three (or four, I can't remember offhand) CHN National Games (also a quadrennial multi-sport event known as CHN mini-Olympics, no mean feat knowing how strong the competition is), a record number of Thomas Cup and Sudirman Cup victories ( no doubt it's a team title and depends on team effort, nevertheless, every nation/MA wants to win it, look how elated JPN previously and now Denmark was), etc. Even if we , for some of us, would like to give the All England a preeminent status among the five Premier Superseries, Lin Dan has garnered six already, and I believe he'd have won a few more if the AE is not relegated to just one of the 5 PSS or 12 SS tournaments annually. I mean, Lin Dan has won it all, the most coveted, the most important ones, and that at least twice over, nobody even comes close - if not Lin Dan then who deserves or is the most qualified to be regarded as the Greatest of All Time in history ? As for the future, let the future tell, for now it is Lin Dan, the one and only GOAT. Last but not least, H2H does count, as much as winning titles and world ranking, to qualify for true greatness. Yes, it's more meaningful if the two players concerned have met several times over the last few years, the more encounters the better. Clearly, in Lin Dan - LCW's case, it is definitely highly relevant for their careers overlap each others, starting at about the same time and may probably end at roughly the same time. More importantly, and this is very significant, the two great masters have met to date 36 times since their first clash in 2004, over a period of 12 years and their H2H is tellingly 25 - 11, overwhelmingly in Lin Dan's favour. Need I say more. To add, if we take into account Lin Dan's H2H with any one else, counting only those who, say, have met him at least 5 times (10 would rule out too many opponents , I think, considering Lin Dan is already at the tail-end of his career), I can safely say no-one has a positive H2H against him. How's that for another record?! The scary part is Lin Dan has over the years been establishing and breaking his own records, and he is now poised to break another one, perhaps two if he decides not to call it a day soon after Rio.
That's why right at the beginning I began my explanation based upon what truly counts as top-level tournaments at the era of Superseries. Becoming a Superseries does not lower the prestige of All England. In fact, Superseries was the top-tier tournaments that began in 2007. But having 12 tournaments throughout the year, as well as without compulsory participation, really dampens the credibility of world ranking or Superseries itself. That is how Superseries Premier comes into existence. Lin Dan's achievement would be undisputable should he dominated at Superseries while he also claimed world titles. But he did not top world ranking for good reasons.
The intense competition at premier events also help to increase the competition for regular Superseries, as players try to earn ranking points for those who cannot ALWAYS win at premier Superseries.
Also, if you can only play at highest level on a few occasions within a year, you don't deserve to be called the best player. It's that simple.
There is also one way to boost winning rate, playing fewer tournaments. But doing so really dampens the credibility of your ability to remain at top for most of the time throughout the year.
I don't suggest you play at every tournaments. But you should at least fulfill basic obligation as a player to acquire realistic world ranking.
We know it is by choice that Lin Dan did not regain his WR1 status for a period of time. If being WR1 is that necessary and important (LCW is rewarded in MAS for being and staying at WR1 week after week, and since he couldn't beat Lin Dan at the majors, he can only settle for this as well as garnering more of the other titles, pardon me for saying this), I'm very sure Lin Dan will do it, eg if CBA requires it. It's not as if he's not been WR1 before for quite some time. As it is, Lin Dan primed himself to peak at the right time and grabbed all the trophies that matters the most, as well as many of the rest,otherwise his world ranking wouldn't be number two or three most of the time, just to get a good seeding. Lin Dan has proven that his overall strategy and gameplan is the correct one, the most effective. In other words, Lin Dan got his priorities right, he's very clear about his goals and how to get there. That's why he avoided winning the battle but losing the war, and he proved it by coming out on top time and time again. We can say, he understands Sun Tzu's Art of War - the famous dictum: Know yourself, know your enemy, fight a hundred battles, win a hundred victories. “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Factually, most of the time, Lin Dan played in enough tournaments, at least 10, to get a realistic world ranking, top 2 or 3. In fact, most of the top 10 to 20 players competed in many more tournaments than him, say 15 to 20 even, and they have a number of early exits, so much as that they are often ranked lower than Lin Dan who played fewer toturnaments. Now that age is catching up with him, going 33, he has to be even more circumspect, prepare better, rest a bit more when necessary, take fewer risks, and preserve himself well for the tournaments that matter. For this Olympic year, he has proven himself capable of winning two strong tournaments back-to-back, namely the German Open (though only a GPG, it's not that weak but relatively strong this year) and the most prestigious of the five PSS, the All England. After that for the rest of the year, after doing his duty at the all-important Thomas Cup, his one and only goal now is none other than to wear the Olympic gold medal for the third time in his career.
There has been an assumption that LD can be World NO 1 if he really wanted to. He only wanted to focus on "big tournaments". You can assume all you want. But it did not change the past or present.
I congratulated LD for winning his sixth All England Open. But that did not change the fact that he did win many Superseries tournaments over the years, compared with many other players, but he certainly did not dominate the world circuit.
He played in 8 individual tournaments this year. German GPG, All England SSP, India SS, Malaysia SSP, Singapore SS, China GPG, Badminton Asia, and Indonesia SSP. Did you try to over-emphasize his achievement in three tournaments but neglect his result in other tournaments? Is that how world ranking works?
I mean , if everybody wants something so badly, they will do their utmost towards achieving it and be willing to sacrifice some of the lesser goals if necessary, in order to get it. That's also what makes the WC and, the more so, the OG, so special, distinguished, exceptional. Of course, as I've said earlier, just winning one Olympic gold and nothing else worth mentioning doesn't entitle you to greatness but it does matter a great deal to the player concerned. Think Ji Xinpeng, the surprised gold medallist at Sydney 2000, who never captured any top tier event before or after.
If you did not have the desire or will to do well consistently in world circuit, why should you expect us to rank you as the top player?
