Second child of three children, and only daughter, to parents Lina and Peng, immigrants from Brunei. Graduate of Health and Medical Science, majoring in neuroscience from the University of Adelaide. PhD student. Two-time Olympian and national head badminton coach.

Rewind to the 2012 Games where the often-unheralded sport stole world news headlines.

Four pairs, including world number three Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung (Korea) and world number eight Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii (Indonesia), were disqualified from the competition for what can only be described as match fixing.

The teams were banned for "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport" as they were intentionally trying to lose matches to secure an easier quarter final draw.

For Leanne, who was on debut as a 21-year-old with partner Renuga Veeran and ranked 25th in the world, the disqualification rocketed them into the quarter finals.

The pair was initially knocked out in the qualifying rounds and eventually secured an historic fifth place overall for Australia due to the incident.

“That was the most attention badminton ever had — all my friends knew about it, and it was making headlines in the mainstream media,” Leanne remembered.

“It was quite chaotic. Players were deliberately trying to lose, which reflected poorly on the sport unfortunately.

“We were knocked out after finishing third in our group. We needed to be top two to go through but got the callback for the quarters because of that.

“In that match, no one could really play any badminton. Everyone was so nervous on court. I can't remember half of it. All I could think was, ‘I'm playing in an Olympic quarter final’.

“I remember when we walked off the court, losing that match felt like the biggest heartbreak. It was a huge opportunity, and we couldn’t capitalise on it. After that competition, they changed the format to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.”

Mistakes are learnings. That’s the approach the 33-year-old now embraces in her role as head coach of the Australian team; the first female to hold the position.

She recently guided the three-strong team of Angela Yu and Setyana Mapasa (doubles) and Tiffany Ho (singles) at the Paris Olympic Games.

While the doubles pair managed just one 2-0 win over India from their three matches, and Tiffany managed to battle as hard as she could in her encounters, Leanne believes the competition was invaluable for the trio.

“Paris was an incredible experience and a very different one than when I was an athlete,” she said.

“The demands are much different and as a coach, you’re managing a lot of moving parts to ensure everything runs smoothly and players can perform the best that they can.

“The Australian team setup was brilliant and there was such unity among the entire team.

“The atmosphere and crowds were electric and at some points it was so loud the players couldn’t hear themselves talking to one another or even when I was coaching them.

“We are still building our prominence in badminton, especially when compared to powerhouse nationals like China, Korea, Japan and Indonesia who have a strong presence at the Olympics.”

Today more than 300,000 people play the sport nation-wide, with badminton’s popularity best reflected by the scarcity of court availability across the country.

As for tradition and heritage, few would realise it has a rich history in Australia. Badminton was first played here in 1874, three years before the first test cricket match between Australia and England was played; just 16 years after Aussie Rules was born and 34 years before the first rugby league matches were played in Sydney.

Added to that, the Australian Badminton Association was formed in 1935, one year after the formation of the International Badminton Federation.

Australia has been proudly represented in the sport at Olympic level since three-time Olympian Rhonda Cator and Anna Lao competed at Barcelona in 1992.

The growth in multiculturalism in Australia is something Leanne cites as paramount to the future strength of the sport.

High-performance pathways and support for female coaches, like herself, through the Australian Institute of Sport’s Women In High Performance Coaching Project are also helping bolster the sport in international competition.

“The cultural and demographic profile of Badminton is growing. It’s a gradual process but it's definitely moving in the right direction,” Leanne said.

“For players in Asia, badminton is often a full-time job, with significantly more investment and larger fan bases.

“The crowds are more passionate, and the sport enjoys a level of support and enthusiasm that’s hard to find elsewhere.

“It’s more challenging for our players and the potential funding can be unpredictable. When I represented Australia at the London Olympics, we were fully funded, but just four years later, I had to use a ‘Go Fund Me’ page for Rio. But we're getting there.”

Leanne’s introduction to Badminton was in weekend family matches in suburban Adelaide as an eight-year-old; her first experience of the Olympics was watching Cathy Freeman on TV at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Sports-mad, she played every sport possible at school: AFL, Football and Basketball. Basketball was her favourite but she was well-aware her petit 165cm stature was never going to see her playing for the Opals.

“I don't think I was going anywhere in terms of my height when it came to basketball,” she laughed, looking back on her sporting journey.

At age 10, Leanne started taking Badminton seriously. By 16, she was the national champion training five to six times a week and by 21, had achieved her childhood dream of becoming an Olympian.

She repeated this feat in Rio after a short break from the sport in the wake of the London Games to see what life without elite sport was like.

Today, when she’s not coaching, Leanne is working on her PhD, which focuses on replication studies and the quality of research, particularly in skill acquisition.

Her goal is to normalise replication studies - research efforts that repeat previous studies to verify their findings and ensure reliability - so skill acquisition research can advance, ensuring the evidence is reliable enough to confidently use as a coach and ultimately improve athlete performance.

“Only now as a coach, do I really appreciate the sport, the complexity of it,” Leanne said.

“Badminton’s both a highly-skilled and physically demanding sport.

“Shuttles can go up to speeds of 400km. You need fast reflexes and be agile and explosive to change direction quickly. Rallies normally last 10 to 15 seconds, so you have to handle short bursts of high speed and power – and on top of all that, it’s a very technical sport.

“I'm very fortunate to be in a position where I can influence, where I can make change, especially in a sport like badminton, where growth and opportunity are on the rise.”

As national head coach, Leanne talks openly about her aspirations to qualify athletes in every event at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and to have a player on the medal podium in Brisbane 2032.

“I believe in our goals,” she said.

“To have an Australian on the podium in 2032 might seem extremely bold, but without that ambition, we limit our chances of making it happen.

“I’d rather try and fail, than never try at all.”

And if her past is anything to go by, there is a high chance Leanne and the athletes she leads, will grace the sporting headlines in the future.

This time, for all the right reasons.

Catriona Dixon