Badminton is one of the world’s most popular sports. According to a Nielsen Sports report in 2019, more than 300 million people play badminton regularly.
Badminton has been an Olympic sport since 1992. So, yes, badminton is an Olympic sport.
In its Olympic debut, badminton consisted of all events except mixed doubles. The mixed doubles event was first held at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, United States, and since then, all badminton events have always been contested at the Summer Olympics.
To date, twelve countries have already won badminton medals at the Olympics. The most successful country is China, with 20 gold medals. Indonesia is in second place with eight gold, followed by South Korea with two six golds.
Here is a table of badminton medals at the Olympics:
As of the 2020 Olympics
Rank | Nation | 🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 | Total |
1 | China | 20 | 12 | 15 | 47 |
2 | Indonesia | 8 | 6 | 7 | 21 |
3 | South Korea | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
4 | Denmark | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
5 | Japan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
6 | Chinese Taipei | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
7 | Spain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
8 | Malaysia | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
9 | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
India | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
11 | Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
12 | Russia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 39 | 39 | 43 | 121 |
Badminton will be contested at the next Summer Olympics in Paris, Prance, in 2024. Check out the venue used for badminton events: Porte de la Chapelle Arena.