Olympic badminton champion Chen Yufei reveals how ‘broken’ mind and body almost saw her sit out 6 months
- China’s undisputed No 1 says she almost missed the first half of 2023 because of mental and physical struggles
- Change of attitude and some advice from her coach has helped lift her again, and got her back firing on the World Tour
Chen Yufei is China’s undisputed No 1 badminton player, lifting the women’s singles crown at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 China National Games.
But the 25-year-old has revealed she almost sat out the first half of 2023 because of an extremely exhausted mind and body.
In a Weibo article celebrating her birthday last week, Chen described how she hung on in 2022 when she reached eight tour finals, including the World Championships, but returned with only one trophy.
“It all came from a busy 2021 – first was the Olympics, followed by the National Games and the Sudirman Cup, then the Uber Cup,” she said. “After that hectic schedule, my body was totally burnt out, and my mental state was the same, just like all the tight bow strings were suddenly broken.
“Since then, there came all the disorders in my body. I could not sleep well or eat well, and my mind grew heavier with little energy from my body.
“But because of responsibility, because of ranking points and because my name is Chen Yufei, I still took my tired body to the courts and kept playing frequently.
