Lee Chong Wei, a badminton star and Malaysia’s most decorated Olympian, ended a return bid from nose cancer and announced his retirement Thursday.
Lee, a 36-year-old, three-time Olympic silver medalist, had announced in November that he wanted to return to competition from early-stage nose cancer in 2019 and go for the Tokyo Olympics. But a more recent scan led a doctor to tell Lee that he risked recurrence if he continued to train.
“I was at loss,” was posted on Lee’s social media. “I thought, ‘How am I supposed to hang up my racket after nearly twenty years of competitive badminton? How about my Olympic dreams?’”
Lee tearfully said he was quitting in a press conference Thursday.
“With a heavy heart, I have to announce that I am retiring as health is more important,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Lee lost the last three Olympic finals to Chinese — to Lin Dan in 2008 and 2012 and Chen Long in 2016.
He also lost four straight world championships finals to Lin and Chen from 2011 to 2015. He also served an eight-month steroid ban in 2014 and 2015, stripping his 2014 World silver medal, but a panel said he did not intend to cheat.
“I feared of retiring with regrets,” Lee said on Facebook. “I was scared of not delivering that elusive Olympic gold for Malaysia. So when I was cleared of cancer, I took up my racquet and trained once again.”
Lin, who has a 28-12 record against Lee, reacted on Weibo to his long-time friend’s retirement.
“I am alone, now that there’s no one to accompany me on the court,” Lin wrote, adding a video of a song titled, “My friend, don’t cry.”
Asked if he had any regrets, Lee said: “I do regret 100 percent that I could not win a gold (at the Olympics and worlds). Now I cannot get to 2020, but I hope another Malaysian can and I will help towards that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Patrick Gasienica, who competed in ski jumping at the 2022 Winter Olympics, died on Monday at age 24, according to USA Nordic and U.S. Ski and Snowboard.
Gasienica died “while returning from work on his motorcycle,” according to a memorial fund put together by a family friend and verified by USA Nordic. He was living with his mom in McHenry, Illinois. All donations will be directed toward Gasienica’s mother, according to the fund website.
Gasienica placed fourth at the December 2021 Olympic Trials, then was part of the U.S. men’s quartet that placed 10th at the Olympics. Individually, he placed 49th on the normal hill and 53rd on the large hill in his Olympic debut.
He competed at one international event this past season, a Continental Cup in Iron Mountain, Michigan, in March with a best finish of 37th.
Gasienica trained at the Norge Ski Club outside Chicago and joined fellow members of the club on the 2022 Olympic ski jumping team: Kevin Bickner and Casey Larson, both 2018 Olympians.
Gasienica was born in the U.S. to a family of Polish immigrants from Zakopane, which has a ski jumping hill and hosts international competitions. His grandfather, father and uncle were all ski jumpers.
NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.
Faith Kipyegon was given $35,000 and a house by Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday as a reward for breaking two world records in the space of a week.
Kipyegon, who met with Ruto at the president’s office, said she would now fulfill a promise she had made to buy her father a new car.
The 29-year-old Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic 1500m champion, broke the 1500m world record in Florence, Italy on June 2, lowering the eight-year-old mark set by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia. Kipyegon became the first woman to go under 3 minutes, 50 seconds with her 3:49.11.
She broke the 5000m record last Friday at the Paris Diamond League meet by clocking 14:05.20, winning that race ahead of former world record-holder Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.
“Faith has made Kenya incredibly proud,” Ruto said. “She stands as a shining model of consistency, discipline, hard work, as well as family. Faith is a great Kenyan woman — a mother, a wife and a world champion rolled into one.”
Ruto pledged that the Kenyan government will also give similar rewards to future world-record breakers.
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