[8] Lin was dubbed "Super Dan" by opponent Peter Gade after winning the 2004 All England Open final, and the nickname has since been widely used by his fans as well as the media to refer to him, in recognition of his achievements.

[58][59][60][61] He also helped China recapture the Sudirman Cup (combined men's and women's team championship) when it shut-out both defending champion South Korea in the semi-finals and Indonesia in the final.

[65] In his bid to capture his first BWF World title at Anaheim California, he beat Kennevic Asuncion, Shoji Sato, Lee Hyun-il, and Peter Gade in succession to reach the final.

[89] In August, Lin extended his reign as the World Champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21–11, 22–20 in the final of the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[99] On 10 April 2008, Lin was involved in yet another controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and the media during an intra-squad tournament prior to the Thomas Cup.

[100] Despite the episode, in May Lin proceeded to win each match he played in the Thomas Cup until China's semi-finals clash with Malaysia when he lost rather tamely to Lee Chong Wei.

[110] Lin was eligible to participate in the lucrative Masters Finals in December, but due to the withdrawal of the whole Chinese contingent (citing weariness and injuries), he didn't take part in the tournament.

[118] During the rest of 2009, Lin dropped only two matches; in June in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open,[119] and, perhaps most surprisingly, in the finals of December's East Asian Games in Hong Kong to South Korea's little known Choi Ho-jin.

[124] He ended his tournament winning streak in November with the China Open title,[125] before the late-year upset loss in the East Asian Games in Hong Kong.

[121] After starting the season disappointingly with quarterfinal losses at both the All England and Swiss Opens,[126][127] Lin won his first title of the year at the Badminton Asia Championships in New Delhi, which also marked his first victory at this annual event.

[128] Taking part in his fifth Thomas Cup campaign for China in May, Lin won a pair of hard-fought encounters with South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the group ties and the quarter-finals respectively.

[129] In the semi-finals, he handily defeated Lee Chong Wei in contributing to China's 3–0 victory over Malaysia and a berth in the final against long time rival Indonesia.

[130] Here, Lin led off with a comfortable victory over familiar opponent Taufik Hidayat, as China went on to capture its eighth Men's World Team title; its fourth consecutively.

[143] The very next week Lin sprang back to win the first ever million dollar badminton tournament, Korea Open by beating Lee Chong Wei in the final.

[151] Healthy again in August, Lin won his fourth World Championship title by beating familiar rivals Peter Gade in the semi-finals and Lee Chong Wei in a very tight three game final at Wembley Arena, a venue which would host the badminton competition for 2012 Summer Olympics.

[156][157] This was his sixth retirement of the season and many in the media imputed that this was part of a strategy to improve the rankings of other Chinese singles players to allow the maximum number to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

[167] In April, Lin was again the subject of some controversy when he withdrew from the semifinals of the Asian Championships, a move that was openly seen as a ploy to secure an Olympic berth for his compatriot Chen Jin.

[169] With only a week between Thomas Cup and the Thailand Open in early June, a fatigued Lin lost in the semi-finals to Indonesia's highly capable Sony Dwi Kuncoro.

[170] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lin routinely beat Ireland's Scott Evans to qualify for the main draw of sixteen players where he started by trouncing fading star Taufik Hidayat.

[178] After seven month tournament absence, Lin, down to 104th in the official world rankings, returned in April and took titles in the China Masters,[179] and the Asian Championships in quick succession.

Thus Lin could not defend his title which was won by Chinese teammate Chen Long who defeated the unlucky Lee Chong Wei in a close two game final.

His return to the World Championships in August, however, was not particularly auspicious as he was routinely eliminated by Denmark's Jan Ø. Jørgensen in the quarter-finals, as Lin's compatriot Chen Long again prevailed over Lee Chong Wei in the finals.

Recovering from this disappointment, in September, Lin won his only Superseries title of the year at the Japan Open, making a remarkable comeback after trailing 3–11 in the deciding game of the final against Denmark's young star Viktor Axelsen.

This set up a sem-ifinals confrontation with long-time rival Lee Chong Wei which drew great fan interest as the players, both in their thirties, were assumed to be near retirement.

[196] But Lee's quest for Olympic gold after two silver medals ended with a disappointing finale, as he was beaten in two close games by Lin's compatriot Chen Long.

[201] In the China Masters, he lost in the semi-finals to Qiao Bin,[202] and in the Asian Championships, where he recorded a sem-ifinals win over Lee Chong Wei, he took a silver medal after losing to Chen Long in the final.

[205] In March, the 34-year-old Lin tied Rudy Hartono's record of reaching ten All England men's singles finals, but was foiled in his try for a seventh title by his much younger compatriot, Shi Yuqi in three exhausting games, 19–21, 21–16, 9–21.

[209] In April, at the age of 35, he won his second Malaysia Open title, beating higher ranked compatriot Shi Yuqi, and Chen Long, in the semi-finals and finals respectively.

Xie initially denied but later acknowledged romantic involvement with Lin, who reacted angrily at the public exposure of their relationship, citing reasons of personal privacy.

[237][non-primary source needed] Weibo is the main social media platform which Lin is using to post and update his latest status as well as communicate with his fans or friends.