Monday, April 18, 2011

Badminton at the Olympics

Badminton was played as a medal event in the Olympics for the first time in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games.
Before that badminton had been displayed as a exhibition (demonstration) sport at the Munich Olympics in 1972, and then at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

About the Events played and the Medals awarded
When badminton first became a medal event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics a total of 4 badminton events were held, that included singles and doubles events for both men and women. A gold, silver and 2 bronze medals for each for the semi-finalists were awarded for each of the 4 events. In the next Olympics, which was held at Atlanta in 1996, the mixed doubles event was added making a total of 5 medal events for badminton. Also a playoff for the bronze medal was added to determine a single winner for the bronze medal in each of the event.

Best perfoming country in badminton at the Olympics
China has dominated badminton at the olympics, winning a total of 11 gold, 6 silver and 13 bronze medals till date. The 2nd and 3rd positions have been taken by South Korea and Indonesia, followed by the European badminton powerhouse, Denmark.

Selection procedure for Badminton players for qualifying for Olympics:
The general selection process for badminton players at the Olympics is based on world ranking points accumulated by the players in the Olympic selection year. These points are awarded by the BWF (Badminton World Federation) based on players performance in various tournaments. Also the National Olympic committee of each country can send a maximum of 3 players/pairs only.

Olympic Badminton - Tournament Format:
All the standard rules of badminton are applicable when it is played at the Olympics. The tournament is in a knock-out format, with players who get defeated getting eliminated from the tournament.

The next time that badminton fans can watch their favorite game being played at the Olympics is in the next year when the 2012 London Olympic games will be held.

Olympics Games - Medal Winners - Badminton

Click here to view all the Badminton - Medal winners - Olympics


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