(by Steve Hopkins)
Since table tennis officially became an Olympic Sport in 1998, Men’s and Women’s Singles have each awarded nine Gold Medals. In Men’s Singles, China has won six of those nine events, with Korea winning twice (Yoo Nam-Kyu won the inaugural event in Seoul in 1988 and Ryu Seung-Min won in Athens in 2004) and Sweden’s legendary Jan-Ove Waldner winning once (in Barcelona in 1992). In the Men’s Singles event, only Ma Long has won more than once – winning in both 2016 and 2020, but with only two qualifying players from each country the World’s third ranked player is in jeopardy of not being able to defend his title next year in Paris. An overview of total medals shows that China has claimed 16, South Korea has 5, Sweden and Germany each have 3, and France and Japan each have 1 Olympic Medal in Men’s Singles.
China’s dominance in Women’s Singles is amazing claiming all nine Gold Medals as well as seven of nine Silver Medals (and three Bronze Medals). In Women’s Singles, two women have secured a pair of Gold Medals: Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining. Looking at medals overall, China has 19, North Korea has 3, Taipei and South Korea have 2 each, and Japan and Singapore each have 1.
Outside of singles, the format has varied slightly over nine Olympic Games. There have been four Team Events – China claimed all four Gold Medals in both Men’s and Women’s Teams events. The other (non-Gold) medals in Men’s Teams were split between Germany (4), South Korea (2), and Japan (2). In Women’s Teams, Japan has landed two Silver and one Bronze, Singapore has secured one Silver and one Bronze, Germany has secured one Silver, and South Korea and Hong Kong each have one Bronze.
Men’s Doubles was played in five Olympic Games, with China winning all five Gold Medals (and two Silver Medals). Yugoslavia, Germany, and Hong Kong each secured a Silver Medal, and Korea has four of six awarded Bronze Medals (with the other two going to France and Denmark – one each). In Women’s Doubles, China has won four of five Gold Medals with Korea taking the other. Korea secured four of the other medals, North Korea and Yugoslavia each secured a single medal. Mixed Doubles was played for the first time in 2020 in Tokyo. Japan won the title, China claimed Silver and Taipei won Bronze.
In looking ahead to Paris, China will certainly be favored in each of these events. If the Olympics began today, China would have the top two seeds in Men’s Singles, the top two seeds in Women’s Singles, the top seed in Mixed Doubles, and the top seeded entry in both Men’s and Women’s Teams.
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Qualification System for the Paris Olympic Games
Over ten thousand athletes from over 200 countries (206) will compete at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics which will start on July 26th in Paris, France.
Table Tennis competition begins the day after the Opening Ceremony, starting on July 27th in the South Paris Arena. The South Paris Arena is part of the Paris Expo – a huge convention center. The Arena will be setup to accommodate 6,650 fans.
There will be five events, Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Teams, and Mixed Doubles. There will be a total of 172 athletes in table tennis (86 men and 86 women). No more than 2 men and 2 women per country will be able to compete in singles events and no more than 3 men and 3 women per country will be qualified to compete overall – as each qualifying team will be three athletes.
There are four paths to qualification for singles:
(1) The top 15 in the World Rankings on Tuesday June 18, 2024 will automatically qualify (remembering that quotas will limit each country to two qualifiers).
*Right now, those fifteen players would be Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Harimoto, Calderano, Jang Woojin, Lin Yun-Ju, Ovtcharov, Jorgic, Dang Qiu, Moregard, Felix Lebrun, Aruna, Lim Jonghoon, Falck, and Alexis Lebrun. These would be the top seeds today, but note that there has been a lot of movement in the .
(2) Twenty-two athletes will qualify through Continental Qualification events (with quotas also affecting this process). Africa will have four spots, Asia will have six spots, Europe will have six spots, Pan America will have five spots, and Oceania will have one place.
(3) Each qualified team will receive two quota places for singles. Teams qualify through Continental Qualification events, so these are also slots where athletes play their way in to qualification. Similarly, the top eight teams from the 2024 World teams Championships (which will be played next February) will also qualify automatically).
(4) That likely leaves one “Universality Place” which will be given to a qualified player or players as recommended by a commission.
There should be a lot of interesting drama over the next six months as players (and teams) jockey for position. Clearly, China will hold the top seeds -but right now, Ma Long (who has won the last two Olympic Singles titles) would not qualify as he is in third position behind Zhendong and Chuqin and China only has two spots available. Will Ma Long find a way to overtake one of those two players so he can defend his title and go for the first Olympic three-pete in table tennis? If the Olympics began today, both Lebrun brothers would compete in Singles. Felix Lebrun is World No. 15, and Alexis Lebrun is World No. 19, but Simon Gauzy (No. 31) and Can Akkuzu (World No. 47) are potentially within striking distance. Those story lines are just the tip of the iceburg: Who will be the two Swedish singles entries (between Moregard, Falck, Kallberg, and Karlsson), and who will be the odd men out for Germany (currently Franziska, Filus, and Boll are all outside the top 2 looking in), and how about Japan and will players who have faded in 2023 due to limited play work their way back into the discussion – like Timo Boll or Kanak Jha.
We’ll be following all the stories over the next year as we gear up for Paris.
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