As expected, Asian countries took top honors at badminton's Olympic debut. Indonesia, a nation that had never won an Olympic gold medal, took home the men's singles gold, silver, and bronze; women's singles gold; and men's doubles silver medals in badminton. Malaysia won its first-ever Olympic medal, a bronze in men's doubles.
The United States' first Olympic badminton team consisted of its six top athletes -- three men and three women. In 1996, the USBA looks forward to improving upon its Olympic performance in Barcelona, in which U.S. athletes reached the second round of play.
The one-year qualifying period for making the Atlanta games is April 1, 1995 - March 31, 1996, six months shorter than the 18- month qualifying period leading up to Barcelona in 1992. Basically, athletes must compete in at least 8 international tournaments during the qualifying period and earn a world player ranking; the Olympic field will be chosen according to the official IBF computer ranking list of world players at the end of the qualifying period.
The Olympic tournament will consist of at most 192 players: 36 chosen for men's singles; 36 for women's singles; 40 as men's doubles pairs; 40 as women's doubles pairs; and 40 as mixed doubles pairs. According to the IBF, an initial 176 players will be named; wild card entries will then be added; and finally players will be drawn from the reserve list of eligible players to produce the final 192 entries.
The players or teams ranked nos. 1-16 in each event will be selected first, and then selection will continue down the rankings until the list is fill out. Within this process, certain conditions must be met:
The official, complete qualification requirements and World Player Ranking guidelines can be obtained from the USBA.
July 24 W&M singles 1/32 9:00am-11:30am July 24 W&M singles 1/32 2:00pm-4:30pm July 24 W&M singles 1/32 8:00pm-11:00pm July 25 W doubles, M doubles 1/16 9:00am-12:45pm July 25 M doubles, M singles 1/16 2:00pm-5:00pm July 25 M singles 1/16 8:00pm-10:15pm July 26 W singles 1/16, M singles octos 9:00am-12:30pm July 26 M singles octos, W singles 1/16 2:00pm-5:00pm July 26 W singles 1/16, Mixed doubles 1/16 8:00pm-11:59pm July 27 W singles octos, Mixed doubles octos 9:00am-1:00pm July 27 M doubles octos, Mixed doubles octos 2:00pm-6:00pm July 27 W doubles octos 8:00pm-11:00pm July 28 W&M doubles quarterfinals 9:00am-12:00pm July 28 W&M singles quarterfinals 8:00pm-11:00pm July 29 Mixed dbls. quarterfinals, W dbls semis. 9:00am-12:15pm July 29 W&M doubles semifinals 8:00pm-11:45pm July 30 W&M singles semifinals 9:00am-11:45am July 30 M singles semis., Mixed dbls. semis. 2:00pm-5:45pm July 30 W&M doubles bronze medal 8:00pm-11:00pm July 31 W&M doubles gold medal 9:00am-12:30pm July 31 W&M singles bronze, Mixed bronze medal 7:00pm-11:30pm August 1 W&M singles gold, Mixed gold medal 9:00am-2:00pm
MEN'S SINGLES: Gold - Allan Budi Kusuma (INA) Silver - Ardy B. Wiranata (INA) Bronze - Hermawan Susanto (INA) and Thonas Stuer-Lauridsen (DEN)' WOMEN'S SINGLES: Gold - Susi Susanti (INA) Silver - Bang Soo Hyun (KOR) Bronze - Tang Jiuhong (CHN) and Huang Hua (CHN) MEN'S DOUBLES: Gold - Park Joo Bong and Kim Moon Soo (KOR) Silver - Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan (INA) Bronze - Razif Sidek/Jalani Sidek (MAS) and Li Yongbo/Tian Bingyi (CHN) WOMEN'S DOUBLES: Gold - Hwang Hye Young/Chung So Young (KOR) Silver - Guan Weizhen/Nong Qunhua (CHN) Bronze - Shim Eun Jung/Gil Young Ah (KOR) and Lin Yan Fen/Yao Fen (CHN)