Beijing: “Having a clear goal of what we want to achieve in our life is key to achieving what we want and enjoying success.”
China’s World No. 1 mixed doubles player Zhao Yunlei wrote a Weibo (a Chinese social media platform equivalent of Facebook) post on May 4th to share her vision for the future, hinted that retirement could be her next move after Rio Olympics.
Zhao Yunlei who was born in 1986, is the only badminton player in history to bag two Olympic Gold medals in the same Olympic, winning in both Mixed and Women’s Doubles categories in the 2012 London event.
Zhao went on with incredible run of form by capturing both women’s doubles (with Tian Qing) and mixed doubles (with Zhang Nan) titles at the 2014 Copenhagen World Championships, and the 2015 Jakarta World Championships.
Those remarkable achievements have put Zhao alongside her former teammate Gao Ling to be regarded as the best female doubles player in the history of badminton.
Compared to her boyfriend and her mixed doubles partner, Zhang Nan, who usually lay down on the court, and threw his shoes to the crowd after a huge victory, Zhao Yunlei always appeared calm.
If Zhao Yunlei can repeat her 2012 London Olympic feat of 2 golds at the Rio Games, she would undoubtedly become the first person in the history of Badminton to win four Olympic gold medals.
According to Chinese media, Zhao Yunlei and longtime boyfriend are set to tight the knot and both will retire after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“After my retirement from badminton, I will be going to graduate school for higher-studies, after all, life is far more than just badminton,” said Zhao Yunlei.
