Datuk Lee Chong Wei (born 21 October 1982 in Bagan Serai, Perak[1]) is a Malaysian Chinese professional badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012.[2] He is the third Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the number one ranking for more than a year.[3]
Lee is a silver medalist in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, making him the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympicmedal[3] and the first Malaysian to reach the finals in the men's singles event, ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This achievement also earned him the title Datuk, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero.[4] He repeated the achievement four years later in London, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.[5]
In his early years, Lee favoured basketball, however his mother soon forbade him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving his father's consent, the coach began to train Lee after school.[6]Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old.[7]
On 3 November 2006, Lee was involved in a car accident. On his way to Bukit Jalil after dinner, he was hit from behind by a vehicle which had lost control after a tire blow out. He was then sent to the Sunway Medical Centre and treated with six stitches for his head injury.[8]
Lee received RM300,000 on 21
