Lucia Francisca "Susi" Susanti Haditono (; born 11 February 1971) is an Indonesia retired

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 ...

player. Relatively small of stature, she combined quick and graceful movement with elegant shotmaking technique, and is regarded by many as one of the greatest women's singles players of all time. She is the first Indonesian Olympic gold medalist.

Career

Susanti won the women's singles gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and the bronze medal at the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, United States. She retired from the world badminton circuit not long after her marriage to Alan Budikusuma (who had also won a badminton singles gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics) in February 1997. Susanti was the most dominant women's singles player in the first half of the 1990s, winning the All England Open in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994, the

World Badminton Grand Prix Finals The World Badminton Grand Prix Finals was an annual badminton tournament organized by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) to crown the best badminton player of the year. The tournament only invited the top eight players in the year-end worl ...

five times consecutively from 1990 to 1994 as well as in 1996, and the IBF World Championships in 1993. She is the only female player to hold the Olympic, World Championship, and All-England singles titles simultaneously. She won the Japan Open three times and the Indonesian Open six times. She also won numerous Badminton Grand Prix series events and five

Badminton World Cup The World Cup in badminton was an annual tournament organized by the International Management Group (IMG). It was held from 1979 to 1997. After the tournament ceased for seven years, Badminton World Federation decided to bring it back as invitationa ...

s. She led the Indonesian team to victory over perennial champion China in the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and 1996 Uber Cup (women's world team) competitions. All of this came during a relatively strong period in women's international badminton. Her chief competitors early in her prime years were the Chinese players

Tang Jiuhong Tang Jiuhong (; born February 14, 1969) is a former Chinese badminton star who was one of the world's leading women's singles players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Career She won the then biennial 1991 World Championship in 1991 and was ...

and

Huang Hua Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was i ...

, and, later, China's

Ye Zhaoying Ye Zhaoying (; born 7 May 1974) is a retired badminton player from Hangzhou, China. Officially ranked as the number one women's singles player in the world for the first time in December 1995, she lost and regained that ranking several times du ...

and the Korean

Bang Soo-hyun Bang Soo-hyun (Hangul: 방수현; Hanja: 方銖賢; born 13 September 1972) is a former badminton player from South Korea who was one of the world's leading women's singles players of the 1990s. She was a contemporary and rival of Indonesia's Su ...

. Susanti was inducted into the

International Badminton 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 member ...

(IBF, currently BWF) Hall of Fame in May 2004, and received the Herbert Scheele Trophy in 2002. She lit the flame at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...

opening ceremony.

Playing style

Susanti was an extremely durable defensive player who liked to instigate long rallies to wear down her opponent's stamina and invite errors. That style was in contrast to most of the top female players of her time such as

, and

, who employed a more aggressive style. Susanti's matches against top-tier opponents were characteristically slow-paced and long, especially in the era of 15 points system when a player could only earn a point when she or he held the serve. Susanti relied on deep clears to the back line, limiting the chance of a fast-paced exchange, mixed with tight drop shots, forcing her opponent to cover the entire court. Susanti frequently covered her backhand side with overhead forehands, by relying on her quickness and back-arching suppleness. Relatively short, she often stretched her legs very wide to take low shots at the corners or away from her position. Developed from training, this leg-stretching, almost balletic maneuver became a signature pose which sometimes ended with a full leg split. In the later years of her career, Susanti incorporated more smashing into her repertoire, enough to put throw off opponents expecting only a game of attrition.

Personal life

She is married to Alan Budikusuma (), a men's badminton Olympic gold medalist (also in 1992) and one of the top men's players in the history of the sport, a former Chinese Indonesian

player who excelled at the world level from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Together they have three children, Laurencia Averina, born 1999, Albertus Edward, born 2000, Sebastianus Fredrick, born 2003. When the eldest daughter was born, Indonesia was rocked by a series of civil outbreaks and violence. Susanti decided to name her daughter Laurencia Averina Wiratama, which means “peace”, hoping that he would bring about peace in the nation.

In popular culture

A biopic in Indonesian based on Susanti's life story, entitled '' Susi Susanti: Love All'' directed by Sim F with

Laura Basuki Laura Basuki (born 9 January 1988) is an Indonesian model and actress of mixed Javanese, Chinese and Vietnamese descent. Early life Basuki was born in Berlin on 9 January 1988 to an Indonesian-Chinese dad and a Vietnamese mom. As a teenager ...

playing the titular role and Dion Wiyoko as Alan Budikusuma was released on 24 October 2019.

Awards and nominations

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Women's singles''

World Championships

''Women's singles''

World Cup

''Women's singles''

Asian Games

''Women's singles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Women's singles''

World Junior Championships

The Bimantara World Junior Championships was an international invitation badminton tournament for junior players. It was held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1987 to 1991. ''Girls' singles'' ''Girls' doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

IBF World Grand Prix (38 titles, 11 runners-up)

The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006. ''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' : IBF Grand Prix tournament : IBF Grand Prix Finals tournament

IBF International (1 title, 2 runners-up)

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Invitational Tournament

''Women's singles''

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.

References

External links

Setelah Sepuluh Tahun Gantung Raket

Susi Susanti Sempat Tidak Tahu Masuk Daftar Rekor dunia
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Susanti, Susi 1971 births Living people People from Tasikmalaya Sportspeople from West Java Indonesian sportspeople of Chinese descent Hakka sportspeople Indonesian Roman Catholics Indonesian female badminton players Badminton players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Indonesia Olympic gold medalists for Indonesia Olympic bronze medalists for Indonesia Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1990 Asian Games Badminton players at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Asian Games bronze medalists for Indonesia Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Competitors at the 1987 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1989 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1995 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton World No. 1 badminton players