Tony Gunawan (; born 9 April 1975) is an Indonesian-born American former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player. He gained several international achievements for Indonesia and later for the United States, including

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

and

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

title.

Career

Gunawan is a former Olympic gold medalist and world champion for

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, and later a world champion for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He is regarded by many, including his peers, as one of the greatest doubles players in badminton's history.latimes.com
/ref> A superb all-court player with a particular facility in the forecourt, he won the 2000 Olympic gold medal, the 2001 IBF World Championships, and

2005 IBF World Championships The 2005 IBF World Championships (14th World Badminton Championships) was held in Anaheim, southern California, United States, from August 15 to August 21, 2005. 2004 Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia won the men's singles over Chi ...

with 3 different men's doubles partners. He won the Men's Doubles gold medal in the 2005 World Championships from the 13th seeded position with his American partner Howard Bach. Gunawan partnered with Halim Haryanto to win the 2001 World Championships as well as the 2001 All-England Open, and with

Candra Wijaya Rafael Candra Wijaya (; born 16 September 1975) is a retired Indonesian badminton player. Career Wijaya started his career in badminton at the age of five, motivated by his brother Indra Wijaya and later joined a club in Cirebon. His father, H ...

to win the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

in Sydney. He was a member of the world champion

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Indonesia Thomas Cup team, winning his match in the final against China with yet another partner,

Rexy Mainaky Rexy Ronald Mainaky (born 9 March 1968) is a former men's doubles badminton world champion from Indonesia who is often simply known as Rexy. He won the men's doubles Olympic gold medal in 1996 with Ricky Subagja. As of October 2021, he was appoin ...

. Gunawan and Bach won the

Men's Doubles gold over Gunawan's ex-partner Wijaya and

Sigit Budiarto Sigit Budiarto (born 24 November 1975) is a male badminton player from Indonesia noted for his reflexes and deft handling of the racket. A men's doubles specialist, he won numerous international titles between 1995 and 2005, most of them in p ...

who were also finalists in the

2003 IBF World Championships The 2003 IBF World Championships (World Badminton Championships) were held in the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, United Kingdom, between 28 July and 3 August 2003. The championships had originally been planned to take place from 12 May-18 May ...

in the same event. Tony played for Indonesia from 1992 to 2001 and is the winner of numerous international titles. He has coached and played for USA since 2001. Tony is currently studying in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and coaches at San Gabriel Badminton Club 2 (Pomona).

Personal life

He married

n women's doubles player, Etty Tantri on 29 July 2002 at the Monte Carlo Chapel in Las Vegas. They have two sons, Christopher and Leon.

Achievements

Olympic Games

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

at the Sydney Showground Hall 3, Sydney, Australia

IBF World Championships

at the

Arrowhead Pond The Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) is an indoor arena located in Anaheim, California. The arena is home to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction, i ...

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-mos ...

. * 2001 IBF World Championships at the

Palacio de Deportes de San Pablo Palacio Municipal De Deportes San Pablo is an arena in Seville, Spain. Built in 1988, it is primarily used for basketball and the home arena of CB Sevilla. The arena can hold up to 10,200 people. Events It hosted the European Aquatics Champions ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

World Cup

''Men's doubles''

World Badminton Grand Prix Finals

''Men's doubles''

Asian Championships

''Men's doubles''

Asian Cup

''Men's doubles''

Pan American Games

''Men's doubles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's doubles''

BWF Super Series (1 title, 4 runners-up)

''Men's doubles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, S ...

tournament

IBF World Grand Prix (36 titles)

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Other results

Performance timeline

Indonesian team

* ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Senior level''

References

;General * * *
Tony Gunawan
at cnnsi.com *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunawan, Tony 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Surabaya Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian male badminton players Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Indonesia Olympic gold medalists for Indonesia Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Competitors at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton Indonesian emigrants to the United States American people of Chinese-Indonesian descent American male badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of the United States Badminton players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in badminton Badminton coaches Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games World No. 1 badminton players