RIO DE JANEIRO - Badminton powerhouse China has long dominated the sport, but its poor return of just two gold medals at the Rio Olympics marks a sea change as its stranglehold loosens.
China's Lin Dan falls during the match against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
China collected a clean sweep of five gold medals at London 2012, however it was a different story in Brazil as its women shuttlers and superstar Lin Dan left empty-handed.
That poor return played a major role in China slipping behind Great Britain to finish third in the medals table - the first time they have finished outside the top two since the Sydney Games in 2000.
The women's singles had its first non-Chinese winner since the Atlanta Games 20 years ago after Li Xuerui failed to defend her title won in London, losing in the semi-final.
After falling to Spanish gold medallist Carolina Marin, Li said it was becoming harder for China to continue its dominance of the sport, which has been an Olympic event since Barcelona 1992.
"Our team is strong and we've tried our best to perform well but now it's really competitive," the 25-year-old explained.
"These days the challenge is much more competitive worldwide. Every team is showing they are strong and powerful," Li added.
Marin later hailed her gold medal as one "that broke the Asian world" and with the Spaniard only 23 years old it could be a European country that commands future women's singles titles.
The Asian giant also missed out on Olympic women's doubles badminton gold for the first time since the Barcelona Games when Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang lost in the semi-finals.
Japanese duo Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi beat Denmark in the final for gold with the former declaring it had been their goal to "break China's dominance".
Earlier in the week both of China's pairs, including double London gold medallist Zhao Yunlei, lost in the last-four of the mixed doubles, which was eventually won by Indonesia.
With three gold medals down China were still looking for their first podium-topping finish, which eventually came thanks to the men's doubles pairing of Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan.
Chen Long beat Malaysian Lee Chong Wei in the men's singles final to grab China's second gold but the departure of Lin Dan is perhaps the biggest threat to Chinese dominance.
The double Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion, nicknamed "Super Dan", was beaten by Lee in the last-four before losing his bronze medal match to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.
Lin towered over the sport for at least a decade but at 32, Rio was all but certainly his last Games and it was not the end to a glorious career that he would have wanted.
Chen is only 27 but was taken to three games by future star Axelsen, who at 22 could be favourite for a gold medal at Tokyo in four years' time.
With Zhao, who turns 30 shortly, also expected to announce her retirement soon, and Fu aged 32, China needs a new generation of younger players if it's to keep its grip tightly on Olympic gold medals.