Chen Hong will conquer all!! R-up will be either WongCH/Sony/Gade, in that order. Sorry HongHong, I expect Lin Dan's form to drop slightly. He's been on top form for so long. Whatever goes up must come down. But if he wins, he's not human, he's better than superman. This is based on previous winners Alan Budi Kusuma, PEH Larsen & Ji Xinpeng, all of whom were not yet in top form in 1992, 1996 and 2000 Thomas Cup respectively.
Funny enough, Chen Hong was my first choice for the 'unheraled' winner of the Olympics, but seeing how impressive Sony during the Thomas Cup I picked the INA youngster instead. I resisted the urge to go Lin Dan because I don't quite get the feeling that he will be a winner.
Provided that Lin Dan meets foreign opponents, that is. If he meets his own countryman, I think he'll lose (either due to political pressure or due to his countrymen knew how to beat him).
I'll vote Sony over Taufik. Who knows, Taufik might meet a minor car accident in Athens and lose his composure.
I hope Sony will beat Lin Dan and win!!!!!!!!! and if he wins,he'll prove that this poll is WRONG because Lin Dan currently dominates it!! kekekekeke...
Hehehe.... My favourite is just LIN DAN. I hope that he can play without any nervous and pressure. But I'm sure enough that he can play well, eventhough he has a big pressure as a number one world player. It has been proven in the last THOMAS CUP FINAL. As the first single, he has a big pressure that he must win the match against everyone. But all of you can see that he played very well, noone can beat him at that time, even Sony Dwi Kuncoro or Peter Gade, two men that I think play well too against Lin Dan. But what happened ? LIN DAN can beat them straight set, right ? It means that LIN DAN has a very good mental toughness. I think at THOMAS CUP FINAL, he would be the second general in Chinese team (the first of course is LI YONGBO). Yeah... it's really amazing. Although he is still young (20 years if i'm not wrong), he has everything (power, techniques, good defend, mental toughness, etc.) which are the characters of the champion. The history of the olympics (in MEN SINGLES) said that the player who won the gold was commonly the player without good achievements during the year around olympics. Ya.. I agree. Alan Budikusuma played badly in Thomas Cup Final 1992 in Kualalumpur, Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen and Ji Xinpeng are not stable player in yearly tournaments. But what did they get ? GOLD MEDAL. I think the same thing can be happened in Athens too. But I hope whatever happen, Chinese will win the gold. Wo Ai Zhong Guo. Although the history is like above, but I myself hope that LIN DAN will make a new history, it means that altough he has a very very good achievements in the last one year, especially in 2004, he will never be beaten. LIN DAN will win the gold. That's my hope. So, my vote is for LIN DAN. Other Chinese player will have chances too, like Bao Chunlai, Xia Xuanze, Chen Hong. I don't know who will join LIN DAN in the next olympics. BUt if all go normally, LIN DAN will be the CHAMPION.
olympics i personaly hope that Peter Gade winns. But i know that Lin Dan can beat him, unless Peter Gade gets better..!!Good luck too them both
Wo Ai Zhong Guo too but I hope Lin Dan loses because he is too damn cocky, arrogant, ugly and shows absolutely no signs of sportsmanship. If there were ever a movie made out of badminton, Lin Dan would be the leading antagonist. I do hope Lin Dan makes it to the final and play Taufik which would be very interesting. Lin Dan is a super fast and powerful player that relies on his physical attributes more than his skills, on the other hand, we have Taufik who is a calm, smooth player who have incridible skills and special moves. That would be a very interesting on court encounter. While Lin Dan likes to play mind games and pull out all sorts of retarded psychological techniques, while Taufik is very calm and shows sportsmanship most of the time, he can be very rude to if he has to; recall the TC2002 battle with Tsang, Taufik almost lost it there and walk off the court. He also changed shuttles without asking his opponent or the umpire. Now Lin Dan likes to reject his opponent from changing the shuttle, if he does it a few times to Taufik, I bet Taufik wont even ask him and just change the shuttle himself.
IMHO Lin Dan needs to lose some matches and tournaments now, to ensure that he doesn't lose that passion and drive to win matches. Sounds weird? I quite don't think so. To keep winning too much at such an early age may burn him out too soon, and end up without anything much to play for but for his own pleasure when he hits 'peak' in age ie 24 - 26. It is easier to know that you can continue to go up, but it's harder to stay up there knowing that you can't go further and the only other way is going down. Look at Gong. She was the undisputed queen for a long long time, #1 without too much of a challenge, beaten only ocassionally by her compatriot as well as a few other ladies on the world circuit. Saw what happened during the last TC vs Korea? Jun Jae-Youn, if not for her inexperience in comparison to Gong, could have done a Ra 2002. That I think is a problem with focus. They are professionals, no doubt and are no doubt not machines too. Focus and effort can change with personality, environmental changes, situations in and around etc. Lin is only 20. He has yet to taste the true realities of world badminton -> you can fly like a bird at one moment, and crash to the ground bleeding the next. Thus, Lin Dan not winning will have some positive to him : it lets him know that it is not hard to win, but harder not to lose. This psychological theory on sports mentality is not sponsored by any sports institute.
My vote goes to Sony. I have just seen how he demolished Peter Gade on Thomas Cup Semi Final. He played very smart, although his net shots can still be improved. He can play slow or fast, and very comfortable on playing rally, good stamina. I have also seen Lin Dan vs Hun Il, and how in the first set Hun Il dominated Lin Dan by not rushing, but he lost focus... sigh... and lost the set It will be different story if it was Sony. BTW have Sony and Lin Dan met previously? and what's the score between them? Taufik in my opinion has lost stamina, concentration and hunger to win. I hope he does not end up like Anna Kournikova, famous but never win.
Lin Dan is a slow starter, on every match he played in the TC and many previous matches, he takes around 1/2 game to get up to speed. Lin and Sony last played in the TC group match this year. Lin beat Sony 17-16 15-3
If we look at the last events, Lin Dan is the top favorite for the gold. The question is : Can he makes it ? In my opinion, there are 4 players who have a chance to get a gold. They are : Lin Dan, Peter Gade, Taufik and Sony. I hope they will go to semi final. But all of these depend on the loting.
Wow! What a theory... "Whatever goes up must come down." But how about "Whatever goes up will go even higher..." or "Whatever comes down will down even lower..." Think about these possibilities.
Ehm....... he'll lose due to political pressure...... I think not so soon as he's current world no 1. he'll lose due to his countrymen knew how to beat him...... How about he'll win because he knows how to beat his countrymen... I think mine sound more logical becoz...... again.... he's current world no 1.
i choose taufik hidayat he will won the olympic medal, now he has spirit to prove he is the best player in Indonesia, hidup TAUFIK !!!
