Paris 2024: Leani Ratri Oktila aims for golden ‘double double’

When asked to describe how she felt to win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Leani Ratri Oktila simply says “proud and happy”. But her triumphs in the summer of 2021 – golds in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles, and silver in the women’s singles – were about much more than personal sporting achievement. 

Oktila had to wait patiently for her chance on the biggest stage of all, having already won multiple world and Asian titles and reached number one in the world rankings. The first of these achievements came in the mixed doubles at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, just two years after she took up Para badminton. But it would be six more years – plus an additional year because of the Covid-19 pandemic – before the sport would appear on the Paralympic programme for the first time. 

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There was also the weight of expectation from a whole nation to carry. Badminton is arguably Indonesia’s most successful sport internationally, with gold medals won in every Olympic Games apart from London 2012, since it was introduced in Barcelona in 1992. Only China has more Olympic badminton medals than Indonesia. 

But the country had claimed only one medal across all sports at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, a bronze by Ni Nengah Widiasih in Para powerlifting. In the space of just a few weeks, Oktila quadrupled that tally to become the most successful Indonesian athlete at a Paralympic or Olympic Games. 

“Of course, it really changed my life. Especially financially because I can help my family and also help the people around me.” 

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Paralympics, President and Paris 

Oktila comes from Siabu, a village in the Riau Province on the island of Sumatra, the second of 10 children. “I got involved in the world of badminton because of my parents’ encouragement when I was seven years old,” she says. “Since then, I have dreamed of becoming a world champion.” 

A year later, she started competing in national championships, but her badminton dreams looked to be over in 2011, aged 20, when, as she prepared to leave for her university campus, the motorbike she was on collided with a car. “I had a broken arm and leg,” Oktila recalls. 

The accident left her left leg seven centimetres shorter than her right. At first, she thought she would not play badminton again. Then, exactly one year after her accident, Oktila started her journey in Para sport.

“I joined the NPC [National Paralympic Committee] of Indonesia,” she explains. “I thought, ‘here I can still follow my postponed dreams. And if I can’t continue my badminton, I will continue to improve my achievements in the academic field’.” 

Oktila managed both, achieving a Masters in Education of English Literature and earning multiple Para badminton medals of every colour across women’s doubles, mixed doubles and women’s singles at every major championship, eventually culminating in success in Tokyo. 

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“Many people know my name through the media, and several times I met with the President [of Indonesia],” she says of her new-found fame. “But what really made an impression was when I gave him the racket after winning the Tokyo Paralympics.” 

Like all true champions, though, Oktila reflects less on her successes and more on the ones that got away – the women’s singles in Tokyo, for example, where she lost in the final to long-time rival Cheng Hefang of China. “Of course, I thought about how I could turn the silver I won into gold at the next event.”  

One way she hopes to achieve that is with the ‘less is more’ approach. In Tokyo, Oktila played three semi-finals and three finals in just two days, making her achievements even more remarkable.

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“In Paris, I will only play singles and mixed doubles so I can save a little more energy to focus on these two numbers,” she explains. “With maximum exercise and maintaining good health, hopefully I can turn silver into gold. 

“Hopefully I can win two gold medals but whatever the outcome, I have tried my best and am grateful for what I have achieved.” 

National hero, role model, tourist 

Now 32, Oktila, who has never visited the French capital before (“I really want to go to the Eiffel Tower”), appreciates and understands what it means to be a national hero and a role model, too.

“I’m proud because I can be an inspiration to other people, especially friends with disabilities,” she said. “And I can show that I have provided achievements for my country.” 

She also has a message for others who have suffered adversity and need to overcome challenges to achieve their goals. “Never give up, keep the enthusiasm to make what we want to come true. Keep trying and don’t forget to pray.”