Badminton became an official Olympic medal sport at Barcelona 1992.
Badminton had appeared at the 1972 Munich Olympics as a demonstration sport and returned as an exhibition sport at Seoul in 1988. It entered the official medal program at Barcelona in 1992, with men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles events.
The sport’s Olympic history is strongly associated with Asia. Indonesia and South Korea won many of the early medals, while badminton also has major traditions in China, Denmark, Malaysia and India. Doubles competition requires pairs to combine speed, anticipation and precise court positioning.
Mixed doubles was added to the Olympic program at Atlanta in 1996. Badminton differs from tennis in using a feathered or synthetic shuttlecock, whose flight slows dramatically after it crosses the net. Although the sport has ancient racket-game predecessors, its modern competitive form developed in Britain and became especially popular internationally in the twentieth century.