The five tournaments
Men: Singles and doubles, Women: Singles and doubles, Mixed doubles.
The format
Elimination matches lead eventually to quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.
Milestones:
1873: The birth of badminton due to English officers who, returning to Gloucestershire from India, started playing a version of the Indian game "Poona". With no ball they used a champagne cork with feathers in it.
1877: First rules recorded by Colonel Selby.
1972 and 1988: Badminton is a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games in Munich and Seoul.
1992: Badminton officially becomes part of the Olympic programme in Barcelona.
Stars
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark): 1996 Olympic champion in Atlanta (only non-Asian medalist in badminton at these Games), triple European champion in 1992, 1994 and 1996.
Camilla Martin (Denmark): Olympic silver medalist in 2000, 1999 world champion and European champion in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The ex-girlfriend of compatriot and former world No. 1 Peter Gade.
Susi Susanti (Indonesia): First Olympic gold medalist for Indonesia in 1992, just two hours before her boyfriend Allan Budi Kusuma won the men's singles. Also world champion in 1993 and six times Grand Prix winner between 1990 and 1996.
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