Camilla Martin

By Robert Sullivan

In the pressroom, two American journalists were chatting. Suddenly, all conversation stopped. Both men were riveted to a television monitor, where competition from another venue was being pumped in. "I'm covering badminton tomorrow," said a scribe.

Several sports in Sydney have a Patrick Rafter or Anna Kournikova type in the draw--a real looker--but none has anybody to equal badminton's Camilla Martin of Denmark, who was the attraction on the pressroom TV. To say she is smashing is not just to describe her game. But her game, as it happens, is indeed smashing. At 5 ft. 9 in., she is usually taller than her foe, who invariably is a woman from China, Indonesia or South Korea--countries that dominated the sport until the Danes came along.

Martin is a star in Denmark, of course, but badminton players don't get the kind of exposure the glamorous Kournikova gets. And there's a salient difference between Martin and the much ogled Kournikova--Martin wins big matches. She's the defending world champion. Last week she achieved a silver medal, losing only in the singles finals to China's top-seeded Gong Zhichao.

Emotionally stoic during a match, Martin is lithe on the court and uses her reach to pick a shuttlecock from the floor or violently put it away from on high. Badminton is an astonishing sport to watch live: fast and furious, nothing like the gentle game of summer cookouts. If anyone can raise its profile, it's this darting Dane.

--By Robert Sullivan

For daily updates from our correspondents in Sydney, go to time.com/olympics2000