South Korea’s An Se-young won Olympic gold in the badminton women’s singles on Monday, and said she was looking forward to popping open the champagne.
The world No 1 dispatched China’s He Bingjiao in straight games at the La Chapelle Arena, becoming the first South Korean to hold the title since Bang Soo-hyun last won it in Atlanta in 1996.
An never looked troubled against He, needing only 51 minutes to take the crown with a comfortable 21-13, 21-16 victory.
“I’m so happy that I was able to get to first place, I think this feeling of being able to achieve my dream is really good,” said An, who also won the World Championships last year.
“I did my best in the final; I think my next goal will be to write as many records as possible, these moments are the most memorable.”
An injured her right patellar tendon before the Games, but she swept all before her on the way to the final, beating the likes of world top 10 players Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Indonesian Gregoria Mariska Tunjung along the way.
He, in contrast, reached the gold medal match after injury forced Spain’s Carolina Marin to pull out of their semi-final when leading by 10-8 in the second game.
“Always dream big, always do your best in training and competition with the confidence that you can achieve it,” the 22-year South Korea said. “I think my prime has yet to arrive, I am still young and I believe I will have more to show you as I gain more experience.”
The new Olympic champion, who won the Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou last year, said she had just had to battle through her injury.
“I had another check-up at the end of last year and it was very bad, there wasn’t much time left until the Olympics, so I’d just had to endure it,” she said. “My trainer helped me a lot and that’s why I was able to come this far.
“I thought about and prepared for every single variable. I didn’t stop playing despite my injury so I prepared for every situation. My method might be wrong but it’s nice to be able to prove [I am not].”
Having lost to eventual champion Chen Yufei in the quarter-finals in Tokyo in 2021, An hoped her first women’s singles gold medal for South Korea in 28 years would help grow the sport in her native country.
“I hope that badminton will develop further and flourish in Korea after I won the gold medal,” she said.
China had won five of the past six Olympic gold medals in women’s singles, a streak broken only by Marin in 2016, and An said “it broke my heart that her match ended like that”.
With Marin unable to compete in the bronze medal play-off, Tunjung of Indonesia won the bronze medal.
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