Beijing: China’s World No. 6 men’s singles player, Chen Long who won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, talked to Chinese media about some of his behind the scene stories during the Tokyo Games.
One of the topics they talked about was related to the blood blisters he had during the Tokyo Olympics. The president of the Chinese Badminton Association, Zhang Jun posted a picture online showing a blood blister on the sole of Chen Long’s foot after Chen lost the final to Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Chen Long talks about the blood blisters on the soles of his feet. (video source: China Badminton Association)
“I developed the blisters at the beginning of the knockout stage when playing against Lee Zii Jia. I ran a lot during the match and started to see a little bit of blister. In the beginning, the blister was not big, but as the tournament progressed, the matches became more and more intense and the blisters got bigger,” said Chen.
“However, this could not be used as the excuse for the defeat. If you lose, you lose,” added Chen.
Chen also talked about how his family dealt with the situation when he was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics.
“The Tokyo Games was postponed for one year, and we have been training under a closed-door condition. My son would often ask his mom, ‘where’s daddy?’, and his mom would tell him that dad was training either in Chengdu or in Hainan,” explained Chen.
“My wife also explained to him that dad was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics,” continued Chen.
“I could only do video chat with my son during that period as if my son’s dad could only appear on the phone,” said Chen jokingly.
When the interviewer brought up who initiated the shirt exchange between him and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen after the final, Chen Long said: “After the match, I walked over to congratulate Axelsen. I told him to enjoy this gold medal. He then asked me whether we could exchange the jerseys, and I said sure.”
