‘Super Dan’, a day after beating his archrival Lee Chong Wei, bested a challenger five years his junior who is considered his successor at the top of the sport.
Chen went a game up in the all-Chinese final, but Lin fought back to take the second before a show of power and agility in the decider took him home 12-21, 21-16, 21-16.
The tense conclusion to the world-standard competition left 25-year-old Chen without a win against the twice Olympic and five-time world champion in seven attempts.
"I'm very happy I took the gold medal," said Lin. “Chen and I have had a difficult tournament because of the wind on the court, but we played a very good match for the crowd.”
After a match in which Lin Dan's name was being constantly yelled by the crowd, a gracious Chen said it did not upset him.
"We're all from China and whoever wins, it's OK — I just try my best,” said Chen.
In the mixed doubles final, China's world number ones Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei beat Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia to win the title 21-16, 21-14.
Slugging and a coin-toss as minnows progress
Bad weather helped cricket minnows yesterday as South Korea won a rain-curtailed match to enter the knockout rounds and Kuwait progressed on a coin-toss.
The Koreans, taking part in their first big cricket competition, used their baseball-honed skills to outgun China by six runs in a game reduced to 10 overs a side.
South Korea will clash with favourites Sri Lanka in Tuesday's quarter-final, while Kuwait play defending champions Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Earlier, Kuwait's captain Mahmoud Bastaki correctly called ‘heads’ to send Maldives crashing out of the tournament after their match was abandoned due to rain.
"This is our first participation in a huge tournament like the Asian Games," said Bastaki. "I called heads when the umpire flipped the coin."
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