Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (L) and his wife Melinda cheer for the U.S. swimming team at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 10, 2008.[Agencies]

BEIJING -- Bill Gates watched badminton matches at the ongoing Olympic Games here on Monday morning, and joked he was a badminton player.

Gates, founder of Microsoft and once the richest man in the world, said the competitions were "great" and he was impressed. When asked if he had been a badminton player, he replied with smiles "I became one."

He wrote "badminton is great" and signed his name at the Badminton World Federation's signature book.

The matches in the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on Monday morning were between the world top men's singles, women's singles and women's doubles players, in which the defending Olympic women's doubles champion Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen were ousted early in the quarterfinals.