Olympics-Badminton-South Korea's An, Denmark's Axelsen win gold in singles finals

PARIS - South Korea's An Se-young beat He Bingjiao of China 21-13 21-16 to capture the badminton women's singles Olympic gold medal, while Denmark's Viktor Axelsen defeated Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, 11-21 11-21, to successfully defend the men's title.

Upon winning, Axelsen wrapped a Danish flag around himself and did a victory lap before giving his badminton racket to a child in the crowd.

"To win here in front of I don't know how many thousands of Danish supporters as well," said Axelsen, who spoke with the King of Denmark, Frederik X, after winning his country's first gold medal in Paris. "To do it once is crazy, to do it twice is -- I don't know what to say, I'm still a little bit in shock."

Axelsen becomes only the second men's singles shuttler to win consecutive gold medals after China's Lin Dan, widely thought to be the best badminton player of all time as a twice Olympic gold medallist and a five-times World champion.

"Lin Dan is the G.O.A.T. for me... I'm just very, very happy and proud to be on the same level in Olympic terms but in my eyes he stands as the best ever," Axelsen said.

Ranked eighth in the world, Vitidsarn's silver was Thailand's first badminton Olympic medal in history, and first medal in Paris across all sports.

Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia bagged the bronze after defeating India's Lakshya Sen, 13-21 21-16 21-11, at the Port de La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Monday.

Indonesia's Gregoria Tunjung took the women's singles bronze by default as her would-be opponent, Spain's Carolina Marin, was forced to retire midway through her women's singles semi-final against China's He on Sunday with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

"We met in the medical centre after the matches," Tunjung said, adding that Marin congratulated her. "Carolina said her condition was very bad. I hope she can continue playing badminton."

An was already the women's singles world's number one and world champion. Her presence on court has been compared to that of China's Lin Dan.

On Monday, An had large bandages strapped around her right leg, which she injured at the 2023 Asian Games. She had to withdraw during the 2024 India Open in January after causing further damage.

"My injury was very difficult to overcome. At first there was a little bit of a misdiagnosis," An said, adding by the time they rediagnosed it there was very little time before the Olympics. "My coach helped me through."

"I always try to dream big and have the confidence that I can achieve that dream," An said. "My golden age is not here yet because I'm still young. I will be able to show better games to you."

The 22-year-old An powered through in Paris, as her controlled pacing finished off He, with the pair at one point delivering a rally that lasted nearly a minute.

South Korea fans came to the arena in droves to chant the name of their last hope of a Paris gold medal in badminton.

The country is the sport's third-most successful at the Olympics after China and Indonesia, medalling at least once in each Games since badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992.

"When I go home," said An, "I'll go with a champagne bottle in my hand."