The Lee–Lin rivalry is between two legendary badminton players, Datuk Wira Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and Lin Dan of China. The rivalry is considered to be one of, if not, the greatest rivalry in badminton history. More often than not, the dominance of the two legendary shuttlers have been compared to that of tennis greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in tennis. They have played a total of 37 times, and Lin Dan leads their rivalry 25–12. Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan are by far the two of the most dominant players across three generations and many regard Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei as the 2 greatest badminton players of all time. In their homeland, each hold a military rank, with Lee a Commander (Honorary) of the Royal Malaysian Navy Volunteer Reserve Unit and Lin a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the People's Liberation Army having being promoted from the ranks of Lieutenant-Commander and Major respectively, meaning they have the same seniority in terms of military rank. They have contested in many major tournament finals and are currently the only two badminton singles players who have contested in two Olympic finals (Lin Dan has won both). They have also contested two BWF World Championships finals and one Asian Games final. In the semi-finals of the 2016 Rio Olympics, most possibly the last Olympic Games of both athletes' careers, Lee Chong Wei won against Lin Dan, for the first time on the Olympic stage, making Lee the second shuttler in any discipline of the sport in history to reach 3 consecutive finals after Fu Haifeng who had achieved the feat a few hours earlier in the men doubles. The two players exchanged a special moment in their rivalry and exchanged shirts as they exited the court. The 2016 Rio Games marks an end in the badminton era dominated by Lee and Lin. Nevertheless, the pair are good friends off court, having invited one another to each other's wedding and sharing a mutual love for fast cars and watches. Among the cars that Lee owns include a crystal grey Bentley Continental GT, a white Audi R8, a white Ferrari F430, a grey Nissan Skyline GTR, Range Rover Evoque, yellow Lamborghini Aventador and a BMW X6 besides the cars given to him by national automaker Proton. Lin, on the other hand, has a Porsche Panamera, a grey Aston Martin DBS and also a black Nissan Skyline GTR among his vast collection of supercars.
Cultural Impact
The Lee–Lin rivalry is considered to be one of the best rivalries in badminton. The rivalry has improved the popularity of badminton and has brought the sport to a bigger audience. The friendly competition between them also affected badminton fans, especially the people of Malaysia and China by showing their supports to each other match. Lee Chong Wei's coach Tey Seu Bock says that the rivalry is limited edition. In December 2014, Lee was awarded the 'China-Malaysia Star of Friendship' award by China's Ambassador to Malaysia His Excellency Dr Huang Huikang for his role in forging greater friendship between the people from both nations. His popularity in China has grown so much over the years that in 2015, both he and Lin were invited to guest on the reality-TV show called "Yes! Coach", with a star-studded cast which includes Taiwanese actress and singer-songwriter Michelle Chen, Hong Kong songstress Joey Yung and actor Aarif Lee produced by a Shanghai-based television station called CCTV.