You're right, nothing for anyone to flame you there. LCW seems to be undergoing some transition, which is inevitably accompanied by some (temporary) performance drop.
The LCW of Rio'16 is not on par with the Chen Long of Rio'16. Besides, LCW barely scraped through a not-so-fit Lin Dan in a close three-setter in the semifinal clash. That's the fact as I see it.
It is clear to me that Lin Dan's motivation and self-discipline are nowhere near as high as they were pre- and up to the LOG'12. Saying he wants to win but not doing enough what is needed is a sure sign of waning motivation as well as lack of discipline as he is no longer training as hard. In fact, post-LOG'12, he got his coaches to structure a new training regimen based on quality rather than quantity and one that is suitable for his late age and related condition. Simply put, he is not training as hard as before LOG'12 anymore, and it shows, esp obvious in 2015 and 2016.
LCW has played Lin Dan and Chen Long many times and has practically tried everything he could , whether it's aggressive play or more controlled game, the result is as indicated in their H2H. It should be obvious to all of us by now that LCW simply can't attack at will and win points against the likes of Lin Dan and Chen Long unless the latter two are off-form or not at or near their best, as he usually can/could against the rest.
that's why it's such a crap shoot for older athletes. it's a no win situation. 'if he trained harder he would win more...' 'he's not winning because he needs to focus and train harder...' you want him to train harder? he can't. recovery time, recovery ability and higher risk of injury is a one way downhill ride. wake up fanboys. you can't have it both ways.
Well, if LCW can do it, why not Lin Dan. LCW is even one year older, his physical condition is , I suppose, about the same as Lin Dan's , but at least he has the discipline to keep up at training, much harder than Lin Dan is doing these few years, I'm sure, as we can see during te tournaments they play. No doubt, naturally, a 33/34-year-old body cannot compare with another 5/10 years younger, impossible,but at least he should train hard enough to maintain it at optimum level for his current age and then let his accumulated experience and deep knowledge of the game make up for the deficiencies in his physicality.
whoa, slow your roll... you cannot compare the two. most importantly you need to consider lin dan peaked at a much earlier age than lcw, which places them on different time lines in their individual physical states. at this point in time lin dan is expected be less physically able than lcw to some degree. this is what i'm talking about... how do you know he's not currently training as hard as he should right now? are you basing it on his results?
Backwards logic in the Chen Long case - until 2012, CL was LCW's punching bag. Got absolutely obliterated on several occasions. Once LCW started to slow down, CL started to get the better of him. And if you think LD wasnt prepared for the '16 Olympics, you're delusional. He really, really wanted that Gold, like everyone else did. It's true that LCW wasnt quite as good as CL on the final day, but adopting your logic someone could say "after beating the GOAT in a draining three-setter, LCW was too exhausted, and having overcome his biggest rival, didnt have the motovation and focus to beat a weaker opponent with a physically tiring play style." It's just stupid on the face of it. We can all wonder about the what-ifs (what if LCW had won in straight games? What if LD had won?), but ultimately, we can only make accurate statements based on facts. We dont know how CL wouldve fared against LD, so there's absolutely no base for the statement that 'LCW wasnt on par with CL' as far as their capability to beat LD is concerned. All we can say with assurancy is that LCW was able to beat LD, and not able to beat CL. Circumstances were what they were. If CL and LCW had swapped their SF opponents, the result might have been different, or it might not have been. Making excuses based on LD 'lacking motovation' to win the biggest tournament of them all is really lacking any validity and makes it seem like someone is unable to face facts, this one being that LD wasn't better than LCW at this particular tournament.
First, he himself said he's not training like before, but fewer hours based on quality than quantity. Second, when Lin Dan crashed out of the 2015 WC in the QFs to JOJ, Li Yongo openly criticised him for lacking the hunger to win and said he would personally take charge of his training which has to refer to physical not motivational aspect; in fact, LYB actually specified that he'd be working on his fitness level. Third, just observe his game on court, the way he moves, the speed, the tenacity, his attack and defence, how he handles punishing rallies, less aggressive,a drop in retrieving ability,etc. Fourth, a couple of sportswriter has hinted or directly pointed out to his lower level of fitness, and saying it's better in 2017 as compared to the previous two years, and specifically mentioning he trained harder after the extramarital scandal broke out which resulted in his improved fitness level as evident in the few tournaments immediately following. Fifth, Lin Dan used to be one of the supremely fit athlete on his heyday up to LOG'12, how did he suddenly decline so fast ? Lastly, your point "at this point in time lin dan is expected be less physically able than lcw to some degree." is questionable and debatable. What's the basis for saying that ? How did Lin Dan improved his fitness in 2017 as compared with 2015 and 2016 then ? Moreover, LCW may have peaked a bit later than Lin Dan , but the difference is not great as their careers virtually overlapped - even in 2013WC and 2014AG, Lin Dan was still the better player, then he started losing to him in 2015 and 2016, but this year, Lin Dan again emerges the better player , beating LCW twice in a row in as many meetings. Yes, for mature and highly experienced players, better results to a large extent but not wholly, reflect better fitness, age notwithstanding up to a certain limit beyond which nobody is spared (not even Lee Hyun Il at age 37).
Ah, there we go again. One, we cannot ignore Chen Long's six-year age gap with LCW. Two, Lin Dan absolutely wanted that Rio OG, but why wasn't he not up to it ? How did he play then and now, 2017 ? And how did LCW beat Lin Dan, after one game apiece, then 22-20 in the deciding set, convincingly ? Three, LCW made it clear in the post-match interview with Chen Long that he wasn't fatigued at all by the Semifinal match with Lin Dan and conceded Chen Long was simply the better player of the day, from the horse's mouth. Four, a player's form fluctuates month to month, tournament to tournament, or year to year. I argued that Chen Long at Rio'16 was at his pinnacle over and above all his rivals at that time and distinctly winning all his matches comprehensively in two straight sets except for Son Wan Ho who alone could take a set off him. Five, Peter Gade, most noticeably among others like Taufik, Xiong Guobao, Dong Jiong, Sun Jun, Zhao Jianhua, was sure we would see a different Lin Dan at Rio'16 but , in the end, it didn't turn out that way. Six, isn't Lin Dan playing better and looking fitter this year than he was last year, and more so than 2015 ? We watched how Lin Dan beat LCW twice in a row in their two encounters so far. What changed, Lin Dan's higher motivation, better fitness, or both, or what else ? Right, Lin Dan's level of motivation is a subjective factor, still isn't it obvious Lin Dan's form and the way he played wasn't much different from what he's been since 2015 and 2016 up till the Rio OG ? I believe that if he were really that motivated, he'd have the self-discipline to train harder and be better prepared for the Olympics, that's just my opinion. Never mind, let's agree to disagree, it's all water under the bridge, no point huffing and puffing about it all over again. We are each entitled to our own opinions
So LCW's victory over LD at the Olympics '16 was not convincing, but LD's victories over LCW, the WC '11, '13 and London Olympics were?
40 years of research: 'the physical & mental traits of professional athletes: nature, nurture and/or outlier.' ?'able & debatable is the whole point. your reasoning is valid most of the time, however, your line (and tone) of reasoning implies itself to be the final and only correct answer with deeply personal roots. easy, and i quote
i have some spare change in my pocket so i'm just playing a little whack-a-mole to entertain myself between majors.
Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that LCW's victory over Lin Dan in Rio'16 was too close, 22-20 in G3, it could've gone either way. How's that convincing ?
Either you're missing my point or you're ignoring it. Of course I was being ironic, 22-20 is not convincing, nor is 21-19 in the third set. But you never state so for Lin Dan victories, only when Lee Chong Wei wins that way it could have gone either way. Never for Lin Dan.
WC'11: LD23-21LCW 3rd game; OLY'12: LD21-19LCW 3rd game. Are you inadvertently diminishing LD's victories by saying LCW's Rio victory wasn't convincing?
Using my own words to answer or contradict myself ? If you don't have the fitness, whence comes the form ? Lin Dan is clearly fitter in 2017 up to now than he was in 2015 and 2016, no ?
