Wow.
15 days of incredible Olympic competition has finally come to a close with Saturday’s Women’s Team final, all covered on our Olympics Hub.
172 Matches, 1,175 Games, and 21,513 Points saw China take a predictable clean sweep of the Gold medals, but that doesn’t tell half the story of an action-packed, controversial Olympics.
These are the 10 major stories to come out of Paris 2024’s table tennis event. But first, here’s the final medal table:
Moregardh’s Masterful Impact
The seismic impact of Truls Moregardh at Paris 2024 will be felt across the table tennis world for years to come.
24 years after Sweden’s last Olympic medal, won by Jan-Ove Waldner, it was the enigmatic Truls Moregardh who provided the inspiration for Sweden’s two Silver medal performances.
Sporting the distinctive cybershape blade, the 22-year old stunned world number 1 (and tournament favorite) Wang Chuqin before beating Kao Cheng-Jui, Omar Assar, and Hugo Calderano to reach the Men’s Singles final.
He started the Olympic event as world number 26, and ended it ranked as the 10th best player in the world. Just reward for a string of incredible performances, culminating in a gold medal match where he pushed Fan Zhendong hard for 4 games before fading towards the end. He performed even better in the Men’s Team final, pushing Fan Zhendong to a deciding game.
The supreme confidence he took from the Men’s Singles transferred into the Swedish team as they dug deep in reaching the Men’s Team final. Anton Källberg was the hero in their Semi-Final against the Japanese, winning the deciding match after being 2-0 down in his match against Tomokazu Harimoto. No doubt, he was inspired by his team mate.
Even though the Chinese trio of Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, and Ma Long were just too strong in the Men’s Team Final, the future looks bright for Swedish table tennis with both Moregardh and Källberg having many years left at the top level.
Sun, Chen, and Wang Continue Chinese Women’s Domination
There were no prizes for predicting that the Chinese would pick up both the Women’s Singles and Women’s Team gold medals. Both results were nailed on before a ball was even served.
What makes this a headline is the context and history of Chinese women dominating the Olympics. In 36 years, they’ve barely given anyone else a chance.
10 Olympics, 10 Gold Medals in Women’s Singles. Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng battled this one out with Meng winning 4 games to 2 and defending her Olympic crown.
Sun is still only 23 years old and has plenty of opportunity to win her elusive first individual Gold medal.
5 Olympics, 5 Gold Medals in Women’s Team. Yet again the Chinese defended their team crown without dropping a single match. They are 63-0 in all time Women’s Team matches. Nobody had ever managed to even force a Chinese player into a deciding game until Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto reached 2-2 (10-10) in their gold medal doubles match.
There are simply few other dynasties of such dominance in any global sport.
Credit must go to Wang Manyu who will have been bitterly disappointed not to be selected for the Singles event. Yet she stepped up to win all her individual matches 3-0 in the Team event.
Wang Chuqin’s Broken Blade Controversy
Just 24 hours before his Round of 32 match against Truls Moregardh, Wang Chuqin was on top of the world.
He was rated the best men’s table tennis player on the planet (by some considerable margin) and had just secured his country their first ever Mixed Doubles gold.
Then a clumsy photographer stood on his racket, snapped his blade, and his Olympics changed completely.
Within a day, he’d been knocked out of the Olympic singles event in what is widely considered the biggest Olympic table tennis upset of all time.
Conspiracy theories abounded. Was the photographer secretly working for one of the other nations? Was it intentional or just clumsy? I’m inclined to suggest it’s the most likely scenario of an over-zealous photographer trying to capture the gold medal moment and mis-stepping.
Wang himself has come out to say that the broken blade didn’t affect him (all professionals have multiple backups) and refused to blame his defeat on the equipment. As a player of 20+ years, I’m glad he did this. The minor variations in performance between identical equipment could not explain his catastrophic defeat.
I find it much more plausible to place blame on the mental impact of having his gold-medal winning blade snapped mere moments after his mixed doubles final. His coach, Xiao Zhan, made a big deal of it and forced Wang Chuqin to handle this in front of live tv cameras.
If I’d been Wang Chuqin’s coach, I would have packed away his equipment and pulled him aside after leaving the arena to explain what happened and tell him what the plan was to deal with it. Give Wang the best chance of focussing 100% on his next match, instead of thinking about a clumsy photographer and broken equipment.
The Arrogance of Chinese Table Tennis Supporters
Without speaking Mandarin, I can’t claim to be an expert on this topic… but even I can see the ugly side of sports fans being exposed.
Chinese supporters see their table tennis stars as the equivalent of major western sporting stars like football’s Lionel Messi and Basketball’s Lebron James. In their native country, stars like Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha are truly idolized.
At Paris 2024, it was Chinese fans who were the most vocal support (with the French a close second) and you could constantly hear the shouts of 加油 (pronounced jia you). It’s a phrase of encouragement and roughly translates to ‘add fuel’.
However, the Chinese state has recently called out Chinese fans for negatively supporting some of their own athletes, booing during events, or making accusations towards referees (the BBC reports).
This all came to a head as Chen Meng beat the immensely popular Sun Yingsha in the Women’s Singles final. Just watching the match, you could feel the support was massively behind Sun and minimally behind Chen. Reuters reported that Weibo had deleted over 12,000 social posts and banned more than 300 accounts over posts about the match.
Imagine being in a position where you can stop supporting one of your athletes at the Olympics because your country is guaranteed a gold medal whatever happens. It’s a privileged position and a small minority of Chinese fans have shown little class in getting behind their athletes equally.
Fantastic Fan Secures Career Legacy
If you’re a Chinese table tennis player, you can’t be considered an all-time great until you have an Olympic gold medal around your neck.
Just look at Wang Hao. 3 Olympic finals reached, 3 Olympic finals lost. His legacy sits below the likes of Zhang Jike and Ma Long for that reason alone.
Fan Zhendong entered the Men’s Single final having shown some of his weakest career form in 2024 and having scraped past Tomokazu Harimoto in a 7-game Quarter-Final.
He faced the prodigious Truls Moregardh in the form of his life, and who promptly secured the first game to go 1-0 up. The ingredients were all there for another huge upset, but Fan stepped up to make sure the gold medal was heading to China for the 6th Olympics in a row.
He controlled the match perfectly, preventing Moregardh from getting the advantage in rallies and using his superior strength and speed to force mistakes from his Swedish opponent. 4 games rattled off quickly saw him standing atop the Olympic podium. Sweet relief after losing Tokyo’s final against compatriot and GOAT Ma Long.
At just 27, he may still be fighting for one of the 2 Chinese singles spots in 4 years time. A glittering career that so far included 4 world championships, 4 world cups, and 2 asian championships still has the prospect of further medals.
Challenging for the ‘GOAT’ tag isn’t out of reach for Fan Zhendong.
Snake Wins Shot of the Tournament
The overall level of table tennis on display at Paris 2024 was mind blowing. As a spectator, it’s difficult to even comprehend the speed and spin from your vantage point.
The shot that stole the show, however, happened at 9-1 (3-1) in the Men’s Singles final. Being on the verge of losing can give you the freedom to do something special, and that’s exactly what Truls Moregardh did.
Following a cheeky chop block, Fan returned a slow ball that dropped below the table’s edge. Moregardh lowered his racket out of view and with a deft flick, supplied a heavy dose of backspin. His follow-through was theatrical, waving his racket around to try and confuse his opponent.
This kind of shot is called a ‘snake’ and has been popularized by Youtuber and ITTF commentator Adam Bobrow. Adam also happened to be commentating on the final which provided a fantastic connection to the action.
Let’s appreciate the sheer audacity to attempt this shot. Fan Zhendong is one of the best players of all time, and is not the kind of player to be caught out by a snake shot. There’s a reason these shots aren’t common on the professional circuit… they don’t really work against professionals.
Which makes it even more incredible to see Fan Zhendong leaning over the table desperately trying to reach the ball after misreading the spin.
I dare you to try and get that much backspin on a snake shot. Like me, clearly Fan didn’t believe it was possible.
That’s what makes it a magic Olympic moment, and my shot of the tournament.
Germany’s Team Selection Leaves Them Medal-Free
Germany has a long, storied history in table tennis at the Olympics. They’re regularly fighting for medals, and always bring a strong team.
This year, however, it was clear to everyone that they’d made some strange early selection decisions, with the team announced in April. Ultimately, they proved to be the wrong ones.
On the Men’s side, they opted against the selection of Patrick Franziska (WR#16 at the time) who was the player in best form. He lost out in favor of Dang Qiu and Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the singles. Dang lost in the Round of 32, with Ovtcharov losing in the Round of 16.
Franziska didn’t even get selected for the team event, with the German selectors opting for the experienced Timo Boll (WR#27 at the time). A decision that was mostly sentimental, with Timo Boll retiring from international events after the Olympics. Germany lost to Sweden in the Quarter-Finals.
On the women’s side, it was reserve pick Annett Kaufmann who proved much stronger than her #100 world ranking to beat the USA’s Lily Zhang and Rachel Sung, as well as India’s Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula. There was even time for a masterful beating of Japan’s WR#8 Miwa Harimoto as Germany’s injury-hit team lost in the Semi-Finals.
One has to wonder how she would have done in the singles. Based on her ‘Team’ even performances, likely better than Nina Mittelham (Round of 32) and Xiaona Shan (Round of 64).
Two Legends Play Their Last Olympic Matches
In a beautiful parallel moment, Paris 2024 saw the Olympic retirement of two of the sport’s all-time greats.
Let’s start with the indomitable German Timo Boll.
He was one of the first professional players to inspire me in my table tennis career. His tenacity and inventiveness have made him an incredibly tricky competitor on the professional circuit since his debut in the European Youth Championships in 1995.
Nearly 30 years later, he brings a close to one of the best international careers of all time. Here are a few stats worth talking about:
- Played at 7 Olympic games (2 Silver, 2 Bronze)
- World Cup champion in 2002 and 2005.
- 8x European Table Tennis Championship winner.
- First ever German world number 1 in ITTF rankings.
- 13 time Men’s Singles winner at the German Championships.
- Constant thorn in the side of the Chinese team.
Ok, maybe that last one isn’t a statistic, but it does demonstrate the sheer talent of Timo Boll that he was one of the few players to cause the Chinese trouble in a period of such dominance. Liu Guoliang was known for saying Boll was one of the few players he feared coaching against.
If you didn’t watch much table tennis in the Timo Boll era, here’s an excerpt from Butterfly on his playing style. Says it better than I can myself!
He was a two-winged looper at a time when most players were more focused on attacks from one side. He uses an aggressive block, and many times has referenced his high-spin slow loop as a dangerous weapon. Add in tricky serves, and the ability to make preserve rallies and make strong shots from all positions, and you have one of the best all-around table players of this era.
Then you have ‘The Dragon’ Ma Long.
He’s not fully retiring yet, but has confirmed this will be his last Olympics. As the first man to retain the Olympic singles title, he’s rightfully earned his place as one of the sport’s greatest ever players.
In fact, at the Olympics he only ever wins Gold. 6 of them in fact. 2 in Singles, plus 4 Team titles.
I consider his mental strength to be second-to-none. He’s a player that simply knows how to win, proven by his 14 World Championship titles and 11 World Cup gold medals.
In an era of table tennis that has included players like Zhang Jike, Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Xu Xin, Timo Boll, Werner Schlager, Ryu Seingmin, and Vladimir Samsonov, that’s an unbelievable medal haul.
Across all sports, he stands clear as the only Chinese athlete to win 6 Gold medals. It’s a shame he won’t be fighting for another medal in 2024 (he would definitely still be capable), but Chinese selection is so fierce it’s customary for players to allow the younger generations to come through.
Harimoto Fails To Meet Prodigy Promise Again
It’s easy to forget that Japan’s most prodigious talent is still just 21. After all, he won his first ITTF World Tour title in 2017. He’s been a consistent player at the top of the sport for 7 years already.
However, he has repeatedly struggled to convert his talent into major tournament wins at the top of the sport.
It’s not that he can’t win tournaments. After all, he has 10 career titles across the ITTF and WTT tours. It’s that he fails to cross the line in close matches at major world title events. Here are a few recent examples:
- 2023 World Championships – Lost 4-2 to Liang Jingkun in the Quarter Finals
- 2023 Japan National Championships – Lost 4-2 to Shinsuke Togami in the Final
- 2024 Olympic Games – Lost 4-3 to Fan Zhendong in the Quarter Finals
- 2024 Olympic Games – Lost 3-2 to Anton Kallberg in the Semi Finals
When the pressure is seriously on Harimoto starts to struggle. He makes poor tactical decisions, loses his fluidity, and gives away the psychological advantage.
This is a player with the raw talent to win multiple major world titles, and put up a serious challenge to the Chinese. Instead, he’s building a reputation as a nearly-man.
To add to his suffering, he was 2-1 up against Felix Lebrun in the Men’s Team Bronze Medal match, including 3 match points in the final game. A loss that ultimately cost Japan a Bronze medal.
Psychologically, it’s been a grueling career and this Olympics has perhaps been his toughest event to date. After Japan’s Semi-Final loss to Sweden, this is what he said in an interview.
I want to die if it would make things easier for me. If I have to feel this way… If there is a way to avoid having to accept this reality other than death, that would be good…
It’s always tough to see a player struggling mentally after close, tough losses. I hope that the Japanese team have great support systems in place, and they can help work on Harimoto’s mental strength.
If he can become mentally tough, he’ll be a real threat in every world event for years to come.
NBA Star Anthony Edwards Challenges USA Women’s Olympic Team
During a light-hearted moment you’d only ever find at an Olympic Games, there was some friendly banter between NBA Star Anthony Edwards and Table Tennis professionals Lily Zhang and Rachel Sung.
The crux? Well, Edwards believes he’d be able to win a single point off a professional table tennis player. Of course, Lily and Rachel disagreed.
One thing led to another, and Edwards was seen supporting the US table tennis stars as Lily beat Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi 4-2.
There’s been no news of an actual match-up yet. The world awaits with baited breath.
15 Interesting Paris 2024 Table Tennis Stats
These stats have been compiled from our own database of Olympic match results. Please use proper attribution to Racket Insight if any of these stats are used in your own writing. Want us to crunch some more numbers for you? Email me at david@racketinsight.com and we’ll see what we can do.
David's been playing Table Tennis since he was 12, earning his first coaching license in 2012. He's played in national team & individual competitions, although he prefers the more relaxed nature of a local league match! After earning his umpiring qualification in England, David moved to Australia and started Racket Insight to share information about the sport he loves.
Blade: Stiga WRB Offensive Classic | Forehand: Calibra LT | Backhand: Xiom Musa
Playstyle: The All-Rounder