Badminton at the 2012 London Summer Olympics Originally dubbed
Poona after the Indian town where it was invented, Olympic
badminton has come a long way since its early days as a past-
time for 19th century British military officers. The sport came
to be called badminton after the Duke of Beaufort played it at
his residence of, known as Badminton House. Badminton debuted as
an Olympic sport at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Despite
its European roots, the Asian countries of China, Korea, and
Indonesia have dominated Olympic competitions since the
beginning, winning all but one medal awarded prior to 2012. What
is a badminton shuttlecock? Olympic badminton is sort of like
tennis with a twist: it’s played with a net and a racket, but
instead of a ball, players hit a small flying shuttlecock back
and forth across the net. A shuttlecock — more informally called
a "bird," "birdie," or simply a "shuttle" — is a lightweight
(about 5 grams), cone-shaped object. This curious flying object
is formed by weaving toge