Super Dan leaves a super void

"I've been through four Olympics and I never thought about quitting before. I gave all I had to the sport I love. I always told myself to keep going throughout every struggle in my career.

"I wish my sports life could have been longer. Instead of having better rankings in recent years, I just wanted to push my limits as a veteran and to always maintain the sporting spirit of never giving up."

Now Chinese badminton will have to show the same fighting spirit as it bids to rediscover past glories.

Lin reigned on the world stage during a golden era for the sport, when, as one of the so-called "Top Four Kings", he was pushed to ever greater heights by longtime rival Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, Indonesian prodigy Taufik Hidayat and Danish great Peter Gade.