China won the first two gold medals of the Paris Olympics badminton tournament. Though the dominant nation of shuttlers took home a sport-best five medals, their gold medal run stopped after those first two events.
After China took home the first two golds of the tournament, everything opened up from there. Here is a look back at the results from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games badminton tournament...
Medal Table
| COUNTRY | Gold-Silver-Bronze | TOTAL |
| China | 2-3-0 | 5 |
| South Korea | 1-1-0 | 2 |
| Japan | 0-0-2 | 2 |
| Malaysia | 0-0-2 | 2 |
| Denmark | 1-0-0 | 1 |
| Chinese Taipei | 1-0-0 | 1 |
| Thailand | 0-1-0 | 1 |
| Indonesia | 0-0-1 | 1 |
Men's Singles — Viktor Axelsen does the double
Denmark's Viktor Axelsen became just the second man in Olympic history to repeat as the singles badminton champion.
Axelsen not only pulled off the double, but did it in the most dominant fashion possible. The Dane did not lose a single game throughout the tournament and his closest margin of victory in a game was 22-20 in the semifinal match. The next highest point total Axelsen allowed in a game was 17. He has not lost a single match or game in his two runs to gold at the Olympics.
He went up against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the gold medal match and left no doubt that he is the most dominant badminton player in the world right now, winning 21-11, 21-11.
At 30 years old, there is a chance Axelsen makes a run at an unprecedented triple at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles four years from now.
Men's Singles — Lee Zii Jia takes bronze for Malaysia
Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia took home the bronze in a three-game match against India's Layshya Sen. Jia fell behind after dropping the first game, but won the next two in dominant fashion to take the medal.
Jia lost just one match all tournament, falling to Vitidsarn in the semifinal, and only three games.
Women's Singles — An Se-Young brings home Korea's only medal
These games will go down as a disappointment for South Korea, which is coming home with two medals. They had medal favorites in multiple disciplines, but only An Se-Young was able to get the job done.
An beat out China's He Bingjiao in the final 21-13 21-16, after a tough road to the final. An needed three games to win both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, before cruising in the final.
A heartwarming moment on the medal stand
He made her way into the final in badminton after her opponent in the semifinal, Spain's Carolina Marin, pulled out with an injury. He took it upon herself to honor Marin — who was leading the match and on her way to victory — on the medal stand by bringing a pin of the Spanish flag with her and holding it up for the cameras.
It was one of the heartwarming moments of the Games and reminded everyone what makes the Olympics so great. As a result of Marin's retirement, Indonesia's Gregoria Tunjung received the bronze medal.
Men's Doubles — Lee Yang, Wang Chi-Lin pull off repeat gold for Chinese Taipai
Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin seemed like longshots heading into Paris to defend their gold medal from Tokyo, but that changed as the pairing went on a wild run to the final. They needed three games twice in group play, and took out a strong Danish team in the semifinal in three games. In the final, they faced the top-seeded team from China Liang Wei Keng and Chang Weng and pulled off a stunner.
Lee and Wang now have both of Chinese Taipei's medals in men's doubles, and two of the three badminton medals the country has ever won.
Chia and Soh give Malaysia a brozne
Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh made sure Malaysia had a leg up on Denmark in the medal count by beating out Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen for bronze in men's doubles.
The match was a thriller, with the two spllting the first two games before Chia and Soh won out in an incredibly tight third game 21-19.
Women's Doubles — China takes a top two spots
Early on in the medal rounds it looked as if China could pull off a golden sweep. The country's dominance was no more evident than when it took gold and silver in women's doubles.
It was clear throughout the match that all of the teammates were happy for each other, and at the end of the match they all paraded around the court holding the Chinese flag together.
It was Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan who took the gold over Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in a 22-20 21-15 sweep.
Japan grabs bronze
Leaving without any medals would have been a disappointment for Japan, but Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida did their part, beating out Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah of Malaysia for bronze in a dominant 21-11 21-11 win.
This was Japan's second bronze of the games, and the country's sixth ever in badminton.
Mixed Doubles — China starts with a gold
The mixed doubles final was the first gold medal handed out in badminton and it went to China. The top-seeded pair of Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong crushed South Korea's Kim Won Ho and Jeong Na Eun 21-8, 21-11 to take home the gold.
This match was more about what happened after than what happened during, as following the medal ceremony Huang received an Olympic proposal from her fiancé and teammate, Liu Yuchen.
South Korea's Seo Seung-Jae leaves empty handed
Seo Seung-Jae entered these games hoping for a double in men's and mixed doubles, but left without either. Seo and his partner Chae Yu Jung dropped to Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashingo.
The Games will go down as a huge disappointment for the top ranked South Korean, who crashed out in the men's quarterfinal then came up empty in the bronze medal match in mixed.