Badminton had its debut as an official medal sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was held from 28 July to 4 August 1992. Four events were held in the first competition of the sport: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles. Badminton was contested in the Pavelló de la Mar Bella . 36 nations entered competitors, with a total of 177 entrants. Asian nations won fifteen of the sixteen medals, with their dominance being broken only by Denmark's bronze medal in the men's singles.

The tournament was single-elimination. Matches consisted of three sets, with sets being to 15 except in women's singles, where sets were to 11. No playoffs were contested for semi-final losers, meaning that two bronze medals were awarded in each event. Similarly, all four players/pairs defeated in the quarterfinals for each event were awarded fifth place.

Medallists

Event:
Men's singles:	Alan Budikusuma, Indonesia	Ardy Wiranata , Indonesia	Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen , Denmark	Hermawan Susanto , Indonesia
Women's singles:	Susi Susanti, Indonesia	Bang Soo Hyun , Korea	Huang Hua , China	Tang Jiuhong , China
Men's doubles:	Korea Kim Moon-Soo Park Joo-Bong	Indonesia Eddy Hartono Rudy Gunawan	China Li Yongbo Tian Bingyi	Malaysia Razif Sidek Jalani Sidek
Women's doubles:	Korea Hwang Hye Young Chung So-Young	China Guan Weizhen Nong Qunhua	Korea Gil Young Ah Shim Eun Jung	China Lin Yan Fen Yao Fen

Top 8 table

Position	Country	Total	Medals
1	Indonesia	2	2	1	3	8	5
2	Korea	2	1	1	3	7	4
3	China	0	1	4	1	6	5
4	Denmark	0	0	1	2	4	1
5	Malaysia	0	0	1	1	2	1
6	Australia	0	0	0	2	2
7	Great Britain	0	0	0	1	1
	Japan	0	0	0	1	1
	Sweden	0	0	0	1	1
	Thailand	0	0	0	1	1

Results

Women's singles

The winner of the women's singles competition received the first official badminton medal in Olympic history. It was also the first gold medal for Indonesia, which before had only won one silver (in archery). 52 players from 27 nations competed in women's singles.

Women's singles final

• Susi Susanti, Indonesia def. Bang Soo Hyun , Korea (5-11, 11-5, 11-3)

Men's singles

The men's singles resulted in the only non-Asian medallist, Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark. 57 players from 32 nations competed in men's singles.

Men's singles quarterfinals

The Indonesian team won three out of the four quarterfinal matches.

• Hermawan Susanto , Indonesia def. Zhao Jianhua , China
• Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen , Denmark def. Rashik Sidek , Malaysia
• Alan Budikusuma, Indonesia def.
• Ardy Wiranata , Indonesia def.

Men's singles semifinals

The only non-Indonesian player left was defeated in the semifinal, winning a bronze medal.

• Alan Budikusuma, Indonesia def.
• Ardy Wiranata, Indonesia def.

Men's singles final

• Alan Budikusuma, Indonesia def. Ardy Wiranata, Indonesia (15-2, 18-13)

Women's doubles

29 pairs from 20 nations competed in women's doubles.

Women's doubles semifinals

• Hwang Hye Young and Chung So-Young , Korea def. Lin Yan Fen and Yao Fen , China
• Guan Weizhen and Nong Qunhua , China def. Gil Young Ah and Shim Eun Jung , Korea

Women's doubles finals

• Hwang and Chung, Korea def. Guan and Nong, China (18-16, 12-15, 15-13)

Men's doubles

Malaysia won its first Olympic medal in the men's doubles competitions in badminton. 30 pairs from 21 nations competed in men's doubles.

Men's doubles semifinals

• Kim Moon-Soo and Park Joo-Bong , Korea def. Razif Sidek and Jalani Sidek , Malaysia
• Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan , Indonesia def. Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi , China

Men's doubles final

• Kim and Park, Korea def. Hartono and Gunawan, Indonesia (15-11, 15-7)