The brief sketch given below outlines badminton’s attempts to become an Olympic sport; the challenges it faced; its debut as an Olympic sport in Barcelona 1992, and subsequent developments.

It was only in the mid-1960s that efforts were made to include badminton on the Olympic programme. When badminton was made a demonstration sport at the Munich Olympics in 1972, there was expectation all round that the Olympic stage was not too far off. The demonstration event was held on 4 September on two courts in a volleyball hall. Over 3000 spectators enjoyed the action on the single day it was played. The use of electronic scoreboards was a pointer of things to come.

Twenty-five players from eleven member associations participated; Indonesia’s Rudy Hartono and Japan’s Noriko Nakayama (née Takagi) won the singles titles, while Ade Chandra/Christian Hadinata (Indonesia – Men’s Doubles) and Derek Talbot/Gillian Gilks (England) won the Mixed Doubles. At this point, there was no Women’s Doubles.

However, from then on progress stalled as a sensitive political issue rose to the forefront. A parallel body called World Badminton Federation was formed on 24 February 1978; 13 Asian and six African associations became part of the breakaway group. The split of the IBF derailed its ambitions for badminton in the Olympics.

Efforts at rapprochement were made from both sides. On 26 May 1981 a ‘Deed of Unification’ was signed in Tokyo by IBF and WBF.

The reunification of the world body reignited its Olympic hopes. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch attended the IBF World Championships in 1983; the event produced some exhilarating displays of badminton and so impressed Samaranch that he was convinced badminton had a place in the Olympic programme.

The long-sought moment came at 5:45 pm on 5 June 1985 at the 90^th IOC Session. Badminton was unanimously included for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. As well as this, it would be played as an exhibition sport in the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988. The IOC flag was presented to the IBF at the World Championships in Calgary.

Seoul 1988 – Exhibition Sport

Thirty players from eight member associations made the trip to Seoul. The event was held in the Seoul National University Gymnasium (also a venue for table tennis) and was attended by a full house of 5000 people all through. The hosts had a good haul with three gold medals, courtesy of Hwang Hye Young (Women’s Singles), Kim Yun Ja/Chung So Young (Women’s Doubles) and Park Joo Bong/Chung Myung Hee (Mixed Doubles). China won the other two through Yang Yang (Men’s Singles) and Li Yongbo/Tian Bingyi (Men’s Doubles).

Barcelona 1992 – Debut as an Olympic sport

At 10 am on 28 July 1992 the long-cherished dream of millions of badminton fans finally materialised. Foo Kok Keong of Malaysia struck the first shuttlecock in Olympic badminton history, in the brand-new Pavella de la Mar Bella. Barcelona saw 178 players from 37 countries take part. The on-court action justified all the hard work that had gone into bringing badminton to the Olympics. An early-round Women’s Doubles match – between Gill Clark/Julie Bradbury (England) and Rosiana Tendean/Erma Sulistianingsih (Indonesia) was so compelling that TV viewership reportedly was 150 million.

Over the next few days, all four categories – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles – produced matches of the highest class. The Indonesian off-court couple Allan Budi Kusuma and Susi Susanti won the singles medals proved a golden start for badminton, giving it a picture-perfect moment for decades to come. Indonesia’s wait for an Olympic gold medal had ended. Korea grabbed the other two gold medals, through Park Joo Bong/Kim Moon Soo (Men’s Doubles) and Hwang Hye Young/Chung So Young. Badminton had come of age in its very first Olympics. Sadly, there was no Mixed Doubles event in the Barcelona Olympics. Losing semi-finalists were given bronze medals.

Subsequent Developments

Over the course of the next six Olympics; Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio (2016) – badminton’s impact at the Olympics only got stronger, with viewership consistently breaking records. Meanwhile, in 2005, IBF was renamed BWF (Badminton World Federation).

From Atlanta 1996 onwards, Mixed Doubles was introduced – making badminton one of the few sports in which men and women shared the field of play. Another major change was the play-off for bronze. London 2012 saw the introduction of group competition followed by knock-out. This resulted in more match play for competitors and a significant increase in television production hours.
Following this, at Rio 2016 there were draws after the group stage took place to prevent players from anticipating their opponents in the knock-out stages.

The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled in 2020, had to be postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there was widespread uncertainty in the run-up to the Games, Tokyo 2020 was delivered to perfection within a safety bubble. With detailed measures in place to prevent infection and outbreak, the Games provided the showcase for yet another stellar edition.

In the period following the Games, and with the pandemic fading, badminton would continue to grow from strength to strength.

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