IMO, The smash earlier than WC 2011 can be compared to Federer's serve and after WC 2011,it's impact was like Roddick's serve.
Personally I just think he chose much better when to attack. Previous to his first change in play style (until 2010) he was a bit one-dimensional, afterwards he was much more multi-faceted imop.
For myself I say a smash is heavy when there is a whole rotation of the shoulder and the body. Half-smash is when the body remains on one side and the shoulder and elbow do not move much.
You do have a point, from 2007 to 2010, he is very much , more or less, an explosive attacker and superb defender which is not easy to maintain as age catches up. After that, he mellowed a little, developing into a more all-rounded and complete player, I reckon intentionally so as to prolong his career and remain at the top as much as possible. It became much more evident post-London'12, immediately evident the way he played at the WC'13. Then after his knee injury following his Incheon AG triumph, he went overboard in transitioning into a even more rallying, stroke player. To me, he is now no longer the Lin Dan I know, almost worlds apart, unrecognisable, disappointingly so, as he descended to the lowest point of his entire career in 2015, suffering 12 defeats, sometimes in humiliating fashion, in a few cases twice to the same player. The good thing is ,this year , fortunately, he began with two uplifting title wins in the German Open and the All England back-to-back and at the Thomas Cup where he showed many glimpses of his former prowess - heartening to see for us Lin Dan fans, proving he still has it in him if he set his mind to it,albeit not 100%. That bodes well for Lin Dan's quest for a three-peat in Rio but, I must admit, he was in much better form and shape the previous two Olympics.
Basically, correct. It used to be that Lin Dan's smash is so lethal, it seldom required more than two successive smashes for him to score an outright winner. In fact, his success rate in a single smash winner is the highest and hardly anybody could survive his second or, practically none,the third smash in a row.
When younger, LD would seldom need two smashes... Because if the first one was returned, he was rushing to the net to kill it! At least that was the way on Beijing 2008... But this is so taxing for the body
Yeah because clothes are chosen by the National team (and usually not just per sport, but across the board).
To me, luckily, it's not bright red, not better nor worse than the yellow shoes many players are wearing nowadays. Red is regarded as an auspicious colour for the Chinese but I hope the designer can be a bit bolder and more aesthetic, instead they never stray far from the usual designs or Chinese motif. Well, no pyjama looks, at least. Not to worry, as far as the Chinese Olympians are concerned, they aren't too bothered by the designs as long as it is comfortable. Yu Yang , for one, has vowed never to wear anything other than shorts (threatening to kill herself if you force her to wear skort or dress, I'm kidding but she did say something to that effect).
It's actually not. What you're probably referring to is an adaptable construction that will certainly be removed for badminton....the actual ceiling is high enough.
