Lee Yong Dae says memories of Beijing Olympics pushed him to put his best in London Games
Korea’s prime Men’s Doubles expert Lee Yong Dae still cherishes the fond memory of Beijing Olympics as he admitted that the experience of winning a gold medal pushed him to give his best shot in 2012 London Olympics.
The 23-year-old Lee joined hands with Chung Jae Sung and the World Number one duo secured a bronze medal in the mega event.
Though, the result was not as good as was expected but still Lee looked satisfied by avoiding a blank outing.
Like this year, they were frontrunners also in Beijing but they could not live up to the billing and crashed out of first round in shameful manner.
However, Lee managed to kiss a gold medal in Mixed Doubles event and he expressed that those feelings still fill his heart with happiness. He also stated that this year bronze medal is as valuable as any other honour.
He said, "In Beijing, I was just excited and happy. Here, it just felt like the bronze medal was just as valuable and worthy as any medal."
The second seeded duo of London Olympics stunned everybody by going down against Danish pair Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen in semi-finals.
They had to compete against Malaysian duo Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in play-off round for the bronze medal.
Both Korean partners struggled to revive their chemistry in the beginning but they showed superb coordination in later part of the game and locked the honour.
Lee, who vowed to help Chung in his quest for gold medal, admitted that he played hopelessly in the beginning but then memories of previous Olympics motivated him to show the elevated craft.
He said, "It was difficult to concentrate in match, because I was so disappointed not to be playing for the gold medal. But as the match wore on, memories of the past four years since Beijing came flooding back to me."
They earned the right to be on third step of victory stand by registering an overwhelming margin of 23-21 and 21-10.
After this win, Chung Jae Sung could not hold his tears and stated that this medal means a lot to him as it was his last appearance in the Olympics.
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