Why badminton is Indonesia's Olympic sport
Indonesia's first Olympic gold medals came on a badminton court in 1992. The sport has been the country's surest source of gold ever since.
Photo: Bryan Allison / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Badminton became a full Olympic sport at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Indonesia won both singles titles there: Susi Susanti in the women's event and Alan Budikusuma in the men's. They were the country's first Olympic gold medals in any sport.
A long line of champions
Since then, Indonesian players have won Olympic badminton gold in men's doubles, men's singles, mixed doubles and women's doubles. Taufik Hidayat took the men's singles in Athens in 2004, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir won the mixed doubles in Rio in 2016, and Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won the women's doubles at the Tokyo Games held in 2021.
Before badminton joined the Olympics, Indonesia was already a power. Rudy Hartono won the All England men's singles title eight times, seven of them in a row from 1968.
The Thomas Cup
Indonesia has won the Thomas Cup, the men's world team championship, more times than any other country: 14 titles, the most recent at the 2020 edition played in 2021.
Why it works
Badminton is cheap to play and needs little space, so it is played in village halls, school yards and streets across the country. Clubs such as PB Djarum in Kudus have scouted and trained young players for decades, and national team camps bring the best of them together. That pipeline, from neighbourhood courts to the national team, is why fans expect a medal every Olympic cycle.
