Why hasn't Lin Dan won the Laureus award?

Lin Dan

The Laureus award is generally recognised as the highest award in sports, an equivalent of the Nobel or Oscar. It recognises the one performer or team that has had a standout year. This year’s awards, due to be held in London, has seven categories: World Sportsman, Sportswoman, Team, Breakthrough, Comeback, Disability, and Action Sportsperson. The nominees for the World Sportsman of the Year are: Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Cadel Evans, Lionel Messi, Dirk Nowitzki and Sebastian Vettel. Considering how recent the images of Djokovic’s remarkable marathon win over Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open are, it’s a good bet he will take the trophy.

Which leads me to the one question I’ve been asking all these years: if Laureus seeks to recognise sporting excellence of the highest order, why hasn’t Lin Dan or the Chinese badminton team won it?

I was one of the panellists in India asked to vote for the nominees the last two years. There was just no mention of badminton, and I had to squeeze in a mention. I even sent a note to the organisation asking why Lin Dan wasn’t among the nominees, but got no answer.

Consider the man’s accomplishments. To those of us who follow badminton, Lin Dan is not merely the greatest of this generation, he has a case for being the greatest of all time. Personally, I’m wary of calling anybody the ‘greatest’, for each era has its own unique challenges, and there’s nothing to say Lin Dan wouldn’t have been Rudy Hartono’s bunny, for instance. Still, taking into account the titles he has won, he should be not only among the all-time greats of world badminton, but also world sport.

With four World Championship titles in five finals, four All England titles, gold at the Olympics, Asian Games and Asian Championships, and team titles at the Thomas and Sudirman Cups, Lin Dan stands above every contemporary player. He has destroyed opponents in the finals of major tournaments, and for long stretches has appeared invincible, sometimes falling only when he looks bored of the competition. And yet, despite dominating badminton for the better part of the last decade, and winning every major world title for China, most panellists are likely to ask ‘Lin Who?’

This year, Lin was among the first set of nominees (an early email had his name), but hasn’t made it to the final nominees’ list despite winning the World Championships from match point down. The Chinese great himself raised the question — and answered it too — in a recent interview to Xinhua. “China is one of the countries with most world champions, but it is a pity that the categories in which Chinese are competitive are not globally influential,” Lin said. China has won three Laureus awards since 2000 — Yao Ming, Liu Xiang and the Olympic team — which indicate a certain preference for high-profile, West-dominated sports. “China is good in diving, table tennis and badminton, and for so many times our national flag was hoisted across the world. But globally these sports are not popular enough,” Lin said.

Lin will be attending the awards function, though. “I want to promote badminton to make it one of the most influential sports in the world,” he said. “After my retirement, if one day when I switch on the television, I can see a badminton player, not necessarily a Chinese, win the Laureus award, I will be very happy.”

By not recognising his accomplishments, Laureus does not dishonour Lin Dan — it dishonours itself.