Wang Chi-lin and Lee Yang won Taiwan's first Olympic medal in badminton in Tokyo in 2021. They took the world by surprise as the first unseeded badminton men's pair to take Olympic gold. Now they're looking to win again in Paris.
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00:00Taiwan's first ever Olympic medal in badminton was won by these two, Wang Qilin and Li Yang.
00:10The cherry on top?
00:11It was a gold.
00:13Wang and Li rose from relative obscurity and climbed all the way to the top of the Olympic
00:18podium in the men's doubles at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
00:23The two are junior high school classmates and have a chemistry that reflects their history.
00:28I didn't fight.
00:29I can't win.
00:30But I try not to argue with him because I can't win either.
00:34Wang and Li had a breakout performance in Japan.
00:38Though they entered the Tokyo Games unseeded, their path to victory was paved with upsets.
00:44On their way to gold, the pairs ranked first, second and fourth in the world at the time
00:49all fell to the duo.
00:51In the final round, they beat former world champions Li Junhui and Liu Yucheng of China.
00:58The Chinese pair challenged the final point of the gold medal match, which was ruled in
01:02Wang and Li's favor.
01:04The ruling resulted in this iconic image, marking where their shot landed.
01:09It was printed on merchandise including face masks and t-shirts, becoming a cultural phenomenon
01:14back home in Taiwan.
01:16Wang and Li's win wasn't just historic for Taiwan, it set an Olympic precedent.
01:22The pair became the first-ever unseeded men's doubles team to go all the way at the Games.
01:28Overnight, Wang and Li became the team to beat, and their competitors started to train
01:33specifically to beat them.
01:35After Tokyo, Li and Wang would not win another title for two years.
01:43This put a strain on their relationship, as they struggled to work through that slump.
02:09Now they're geared up and ready to go into Olympic action in Paris.
02:14They acknowledge it's a tough road back to the Games, but they're determined to make
02:18the best of it.
02:29Whatever happens, Wang and Li are aware that Paris will be their last Olympics as doubles
02:34partners.
02:35Li has announced he'll retire at the end of this year.
02:51Li's decision is tough for his partner, but Wang says he accepts it.
03:04No matter how Li and Wang do in Paris, they've made their mark on Taiwanese and Olympic
03:09history.
03:10Li's impending retirement marks a somewhat sudden end to their story, but it was an extraordinary
03:15moment in Taiwan's sporting history, one they're looking to repeat in Paris.
03:21Justin Wu and Leslie Liao in Kaohsiung for Taiwan Plus.