CELEBRITIES

5 facts about Indonesia’s

Jonatan Christie, the
badminton pin-up boy
serving for gold at Tokyo
2020 Olympics
STORY BY PAIGE TURNER

Published: 10:22am,09 Dec, 2019

When he won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian

Games, the 22-year-old sportsman whipped
o! his shirt – and a viral sensation was born,
with 1.9 million Instagram fans and counting

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Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, aka Jojo, is a

badminton phenom and viral internet hit. He is
an idol in his home country, and at only 22 is
considered a prime candidate for gold in Tokyo
2020. “I keep in my mind that someday, I will
make Indonesia proud,” says Christie.

This young man has been on the international

stage since 2013, when he was 15 and won his
first international senior title at the Indonesia
International Challenge. He beat a far more
experienced (and 11 years older) Alamsyah Yunus
in the final. At the 2018 Asian Games, in his
hometown of Jakarta, he won 21–18, 20–22, 21–
15 over Chou Tien-chen, taking the badminton
men’s singles gold medal for Indonesia. His team
also won.

What else do we know about this rising regional

sports star?

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1. A future film star?

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It was only a supporting role, but in 2009

Christie appeared in the film King about the
legendary Indonesian badminton player Liem
Swie King. The film, directed by Ari Sihasale,
featured cameos by other badminton stars,
including King himself, Hariyanto Arbi, Hastomo
Arbi, Ellen Angelina, Ivana Lie, Rosiana Tendean,
Maria Kristin Yulianti and Fransisca Ratnasari.

Content with his first calling, Christie has never

considered a film career – yet. “Because my
passion is to be a badminton player. I have my
personal target in badminton. I can’t see myself
being a movie star in the future,” he said. “I see
myself as a successful badminton player in the
future. I’ve actually received offers to play a role
in a movie a couple of other times … but I
refused, because that is not my passion.”

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But he said that in 2014, while still a teenager,

and things change quickly under the spotlight.

2. Christie’s swagger steals the show on the

court

He is known for his smash – it’s powerful and

dead-on. In fact he’s often compared to the man
himself, Liem Swie King. Christie’s skills are
nearly unmatchable right now, and they are
accompanied by core strength and blinding
speed; he’s known for his agility and a keen
sense of the opponent’s next move.

“It’s not intentional,” he says of his tremendous

ability to win. “It just happens. They are all
talented players, and I’m fortunate to be able to
play against them. I just want to enjoy this
journey.”

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3. ‘Colourism’ affected his childhood dreams of

swimming competitively

Christie’s earliest ambitions were actually

focused not on racket sports, but on swimming
– but his father steered him away from that,
because he didn’t want his son’s skin tone to
become “darker”.

“It all started when I joined an extracurricular

badminton club in my first grade of elementary
school,” he said. “In fact, there was not only
badminton. There was also basketball,
taekwondo and football. It was my father’s
desire that led me to badminton. He told me to
choose badminton instead of the other three.

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“I asked why. His reason was simple: he didn’t

want my skin colour to get any darker. And he
thought that badminton was the right choice.
Actually, at that time, I didn’t have much interest
in badminton. I didn’t even know what
badminton is. I was more into swimming back
then. I once finished first place in a swimming
competition when I was in kindergarten.”

4. He’s a viral sensation

When he won the gold medal in the men’s

singles match in the 2018 Asian Games, things
went a little nuts. As the crowd erupted in
excitement in his hometown Jakarta, Christie
whipped off his shirt and threw it to the fans. He
and his shirtless self soon went viral. And it
hasn’t let up since – he now has 1.9 million fans
on Instagram.

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5. How he ranks in the worldwide field

Christie is currently ranked sixth on the BWF

men’s singles world ranking – and third on the
men’s singles world tour ranking. He has clocked
207 career wins as of this date.

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