Lin Dan is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He was born on October 14, 1983 in Longyan, China. He is married to Xie Xingfang, who is also a former professional badminton player. Lin started to play badminton at the age of 5 and was selected to play for China when he was 18. He is widely regarded as the greatest badminton player in the world.
It started in 2004, when Lin Dan faced Lee Chong Wei in the Thomas Cup Asia Preliminaries final, where Lin won. From there until 2018, the two faced off 40 times, with Lin Dan winning 28 of them and Lee Chong Wei winning 12. This rivalry between these two beasts is considered one of the greatest rivalries in badminton history. The last time they met was at the 2018 All England Open, which Lin Dan won, before Lee Chong Wei announced retirement.