As we all know, Lee Chong Wei announced that he was retiring, and it really feels like the end of an era. Over the past three years, it really feels like the next generation is taking over, which is really exciting, yet sad to see. Part of me still wants to hold on a bit longer, to see one more flash of brilliance from LD, to see one more insane retrieval from LCW. With his announcement to retire, it really was a sobering moment. It was then that I knew there was going to be no more, whether I accepted it or not. There was so many thoughts and emotions, certain things I even wished I could tell him. Mainly... Thank you, and that he was a great inspiration to not only me, but hundreds of thousands of others. I was most happy to see him say that he doesn't have any regrets with his career, because he really did try his best and he achieved a lot in his own right. Sure, there may have been some gold medals that he never won, but I don't think that's the most important part in the grand scheme of things. He's acted as one of the greatest role models in sports, inspired millions, and made badminton so exciting to watch, for so many years.
Also, to give myself some closure (I also thought it would be fun), I wanted to make a tribute video for him. After a few days of gathering clips and editing, I want to say it turned out pretty nicely! At least... it's something I can be proud of haha. A lot of the badminton music videos on youtube have really high energy music, and I thought it would be a change of pace to have more of a slower song, one in Chinese too! The song I chose is called 顽固, which means toughness, and I think it was a really fitting song. The lyrics would probably be what I would tell him if I could haha. I would watch first without subtitles, and then watch again with subtitles, just so they're not distracting the first time you watch! Please let me know what you think! :)
Song: 顽固 by 五月天 | Bin Music