China's Chen Long won gold Saturday in men's badminton, 21-18, 21-18, handing Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei his third straight Olympic silver medal and signaling Chen's place as the game's new power.
Chen fell face down on the court then rose weeping after his 2-0 victory. He then threw three rackets and his shirt into the crowd, which was largely filled with Chinese supporters, before draping himself in the Chinese flag.
Lee, while old by badminton standards at 33, was world No. 1 and the favorite coming in. But he faced massive pressure not to lose another Olympic gold, and was coming off a hard-fought match a day earlier against China's Lin Dan, the man who beat him in the last two Olympic finals, that felt more like a gold-medal contest than a semifinal. Both Lee and Lin are considered by many to be the best players of their era, and maybe of all time.