Tony Gunawan (; born 9 April 1975) is an Indonesian-born American former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player. He gained several international achievements for Indonesia and later for the United States, including

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

title.

Career

Gunawan is a former Olympic gold medalist and world champion for

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, and later a world champion for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is regarded by many, including his peers, as one of the greatest doubles players in badminton's history.latimes.com
/ref> A superb all-court player with a particular facility in the forecourt, he won the 2000 Olympic gold medal, the 2001 IBF World Championships, and 2005 IBF World Championships with 3 different men's doubles partners. He won the Men's Doubles gold medal in the 2005 World Championships from the 13th seeded position with his American partner

Howard Bach Howard Bach (born February 22, 1979) is a Vietnamese-American male badminton player from the United States. He was the 2005 world champion in the men's doubles with Tony Gunawan. Early life He was born in Vietnam, Howard Bach came to the U.S ...

. Gunawan partnered with

Halim Haryanto Halim Haryanto Ho (born 23 September 1976) is an Indonesian former badminton player. He is a former world champion along with his doubles partner Tony Gunawan. Haryanto immigrated to the United States in 2004 to pursue a coaching career. He now ...

to win the 2001 World Championships as well as the 2001

All-England Open The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the Badminton World Federation, BWF's latest grading system, it was given BWF Super Series, Super Series st ...

, and with

Candra Wijaya Rafael Candra Wijaya (; born 16 September 1975) is a retired Indonesian badminton player. Career Wijaya started his career in badminton at the age of five, motivated by his brother Indra Wijaya and later joined a club in Cirebon. His father, H ...

to win the 2000 Olympics in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He was a member of the world champion 2000 Indonesia Thomas Cup team, winning his match in the final against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

with yet another partner,

Rexy Mainaky Rexy Ronald Mainaky (born 9 March 1968) is a former men's doubles badminton world champion from Indonesia who is often simply known as Rexy. He won the men's doubles Olympic gold medal in 1996 with Ricky Subagja. As of October 2021, he was appoin ...

. Gunawan and Bach won the 2005 IBF World Championships Men's Doubles gold over Gunawan's ex-partner Wijaya and

Sigit Budiarto Sigit Budiarto (born 24 November 1975) is a male badminton player from Indonesia noted for his reflexes and deft handling of the racket. A men's doubles specialist, he won numerous international titles between 1995 and 2005, most of them in pa ...

who were also finalists in the 2003 IBF World Championships in the same event. Tony played for Indonesia from 1992 to 2001 and is the winner of numerous international titles. He has coached and played for USA since 2001. Tony is currently studying in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and coaches at San Gabriel Badminton Club 2 (Pomona).

Personal life

He married

n women's doubles player,

Etty Tantri Eti Lesmina Tantra (; born 14 October 1975), is an Indonesian badminton player of Chinese descent. She has represented Indonesia and the United States in international tournaments. Career Tantri who affiliate with Tangkas club, was selected to ...

on 29 July 2002 at the Monte Carlo Chapel in Las Vegas. They have two sons, Christopher and Leon.

Achievements

Olympic Games

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

at the Sydney Showground Hall 3,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

IBF World Championships

* 2005 IBF World Championships at the Arrowhead Pond in

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. * 2001 IBF World Championships at the

Palacio de Deportes de San Pablo Palacio Municipal De Deportes San Pablo is an arena in Seville, Spain. Built in 1988, it is primarily used for basketball and the home arena of CB Sevilla. The arena can hold up to 10,200 people. Events It hosted the 1997 European Aquatics Champ ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

World Cup

''Men's doubles''

World Badminton Grand Prix Finals

''Men's doubles''

Asian Championships

''Men's doubles''

Asian Cup

''Men's doubles''

Pan American Games

''Men's doubles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's doubles''

BWF Super Series (1 title, 4 runners-up)

''Men's doubles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, ...

tournament

IBF World Grand Prix (36 titles)

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Other results

Performance timeline

Indonesian team

* ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Senior level''

References

;General * * *
Tony Gunawan
at cnnsi.com *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunawan, Tony 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Surabaya Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian male badminton players Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Indonesia Olympic gold medalists for Indonesia Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Competitors at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton Indonesian emigrants to the United States American people of Chinese-Indonesian descent American male badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of the United States Badminton players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in badminton Badminton coaches Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games World No. 1 badminton players