Meet the bad boy of badminton

Badminton's bad boy emerged from the tunnel, his hair arranged in the usual male-model spikes. Immediately the chants started. Lin Dan! China! Lin Dan! China! A group of teenage girls screamed from the front row. Someone asked why they loved Lin, the world's best badminton player, and also its most controversial, its most famous and its most temperamental. They could hardly answer between giggles. "He's very handsome," one said. "He's very colorful," another added. "He's most charming," a third chimed in. Truth is, Lin is all those things to the crazy badminton fans in this badminton-crazy country. He is an athlete, a celebrity and a soldier in the People's Liberation Army. He stars in commercials. He does high-fashion photo shoots. He writes his own blog. He ranks, according to Chinese journalists who cover him, in the top... [read full story]