Lee Yang
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Lee Yang | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 李洋 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Official portrait, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st Minister of Sports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 9 September 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Lai Ching-te | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Premier | Cho Jung-tai | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | James Cheng | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 August 1995 Taipei, Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Independent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sports career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–2024[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Taiwan (ROC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Badminton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Handedness | Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 9 September 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Men's & mixed doubles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 7 (MD with Lee Jhe-huei, 6 July 2017) 2 (MD with Wang Chi-lin, 27 September 2022) 27 (XD with Hsu Ya-ching, 2 November 2017) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BWF profile | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lee Yang (Chinese: 李洋; pinyin: Lǐ Yáng; born 12 August 1995) is a Taiwanese politician and former professional badminton player.[2][3] He is the Olympic men's doubles champion in 2020 and 2024, becoming the first unseeded men's doubles pair in Olympics history to win consecutive gold medals.[4] Lee also won the bronze medals at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, as well at the 2023 Asian Championships. With his former partner Wang Chi-lin, they reached a career high as World number 2 in September 2022.[5]
Lee was born in Taipei in 1995, his paternal line was originated from Kinmen and has his household registration located in Jinning, Kinmen. He was educated and raised in Taipei and has started his career in badminton in fifth grade. Lee played in the men's doubles with Lee Jhe-huei. They were champions in 2016 at the Vietnam Open Grand Prix. In 2015, together they entered the 2015 Chinese Taipei Masters Grand Prix, 2015 Vietnam Open Grand Prix, and 2015 Korea Masters Grand Prix Gold. In 2016 they entered the 2016 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold, 2016 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold and 2016 Dutch Open Grand Prix. He won the men's doubles title at the 2017 French Open.[6] In 2018, he competed at the Asian Games and won bronze medals in the men's doubles and team events.[7]
Lee made a new partnership with Wang Chi-lin in the end of 2018.[8] Wang and Lee are class mates from junior high school. The duo reached six finals in the 2019 BWF World Tour, managed to win the Spain Masters, Orléans Masters, India Open, and Korea Masters.[9][10][11]
In 2021, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he partnered with Wang Chi-lin to defeat the 2018 World Champion pairing of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the final. They became the first unseeded pair to win an Olympic gold in the men's doubles event and the first to win a gold in badminton for Chinese Taipei.[12]
In 2024, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, he and his partner Wang Chi-lin repeated the feat to win in the men's doubles finals as an unseeded pair, making history to become the first men's doubles pair in history to defend their Olympic title.[13][14] Lai Ching-te, the current President of Taiwan, congratulated Lee and Wang on their victory by referring to the pair as "the country's glory".[15]
After appearing in the 2024 Taipei Open, Lee retired from professional badminton to become a lecturer at the National Taiwan Sport University.[16][17] A farewell ceremony for Lee was held after the Taipei Open tournament on 9 September 2024, with his last professional tournament being the 2024 BWF World Tour Finals in December.[18]
Political career
The Ministry of Sports was established as a cabinet-level ministry of the government of the Republic of China on 9 September 2025, with Lee as its inaugural minister and the youngest government minister in Taiwanese history.[19][20]
