The Great Dane Viktor Axelsen, who pulled on a Chinese mane and got himself a Chinese name after learning Mandarin at 22, has snuck up into the GOAT debate after his second Olympic title.
You might not have heard of An Sai Long, the double Olympic champion, but China has. And he could stake claim to being better than the great Lin Dan, and even the Chinese won’t mind a ponder over that debate. It’s the Mandarin name adopted by Viktor Axelsen when he was 22 and became proficient in the language, proficient enough to charm the Chinese speaking to them in their tongue, after losing the Rio Olympics semifinal to Chen Long.
The next day, he had earned their ungrudging respect beating Lin Dan for the 2016 Olympics bronze. Over the next 8 years, by the time he turned 30, Axelsen had equalled Super Dan to two Olympic titles, though his total Games medal count was one more than Dan – thanks to himself, for Axelsen had denied the greatest Chinese his third possible medal at Rio, after golds at Beijing and London.
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