Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

had its debut as an official event on the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and has been contested in eight Olympiads. 74 different nations have appeared in the Olympic badminton competitions, with 18 appearing all eight times. It is governed by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine membe ...

Summary

History

The

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 19 ...

saw the inaugural staging of

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

, as a demonstration sport. Two decades later the sport was officially introduced to the Olympics in 1989, and debuted in competition at the 1992 Games where 4 events were held, with singles and doubles events for both men and women. Four medals were awarded in each event, including two bronzes. At the following Games in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, had 5 events with the addition of mixed doubles. Since 1996 there is a playoff between the two semi-final losers to determine the sole winner of the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

. This format has continued to

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Events

''(d) = demonstration event''
''(e) = exhibition event''

Medal table

Successful national teams

Below is the gold medalists showed based on category and countries after the 2020 Summer Olympics. China has been successfully dominating the Summer Olympics, it is the only country ever to achieve a shutout of the medals, which they did at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Indonesia is the second most successful country in Badminton sports after China at the Olympics event. China and Indonesia are the only countries that have ever won gold medals in every badminton discipline. Bolded numbers below indicate a country as the overall winner of Olympic badminton of that year.

Medal summary by event

Men's singles

Women's singles

Men's doubles

Women's doubles

Mixed doubles

Qualification

The

's ranking list is used to determine qualification for the Olympic tournament. For singles, 29 competitors are selected. For doubles, 19 pairs are selected. The general method of selection is by ranking, though the selection process stops once all qualification positions are filled. All players or pairs from the top 16 places on that list qualify, though each

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

can send a maximum of three players/pairs. Players and pairs through the 64th place on that ranking qualify, with the caveat that each NOC can send only two players/pairs from that portion of the list. Players and pairs ranked below that only qualify if they are the highest-ranked competitor from their nation. In addition, one place in each of the singles events is awarded by the Tripartite Commission. There are also regulations on minimum representation. Each continent must have at least one player/pair. This is the highest-ranked player/pair from that continent if none have qualified through the standard selection process. The host nation, if it has not already qualified two competitors, receives two slots as well, either two singles players or one pair.

Competition

Olympic badminton consists of a group stage and

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

. Each match is played to the best of three games. Games are up to 21 points. Rally scoring is used, meaning a player does not need to be serving to score. A player must win by two points or be the first player to 30 points.

Participating nations

The following nations have taken part in the badminton competition. The numbers in the table indicate the number of competitors sent to that year's Olympics.

References

External links

International Olympic Committee – Badminton World Federation

Badminton World Federation
{{Badminton competitions Sports at the Summer Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...