Three months later the BWF reversed the ban, expunging Lee’s record after new evidence came to light. The notion that the lovable Lee, who had fronted a nationwide ‘Thank you, Mum’ campaign after the London Games, could be a drugs cheat left Korean sports fans in a state of shock and legal experts were called in to help clear his name. However, Lee’s Asian Games dreams, not to mention his reputation, looked to have been shattered in January when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced he had been hit with a one-year ban for missing doping tests. “In the summer vacation of second grade I began to feel I was a too fat so wanted to do some exercise to lose weight,” he told badminton website Victor (MISSED DOPING TESTS 4.ĭubbed “Wink Boy” by Korean media for his cheeky pose to the television cameras after winning gold in Beijing, Lee took up badminton at the age of eight at home in Hwasun County. With his boyish good looks and squeaky-clean image, Lee has almost single-handedly raised badminton’s profile in South Korea, which hosts the Asian Games in Incheon, west of Seoul, from Sept. Ranked number one in the world in men’s doubles with Yoo Yeon-seong, who he only partnered with last year, Lee now aims to grab his first Asian Games gold after settling for silver and bronze medals in Guangzhou in 2010 and Doha four years earlier.
Lee won the mixed doubles crown as a 20-year-old at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Lee Hyo-jung, and a bronze at the 2012 London Games in men’s doubles with Jung Jae-sung. South Korea's Lee Yong-dae (L) hits a return next to his partner Yoo Yeon-seong during their men's doubles semi-final match against Japan's Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa at the China Open Badminton Tournament in Shanghai, November 16, 2013.
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