(by Steve Hopkins, full series at www.TTBL.de)
With Timo Boll entering his last TTBL series before retirement, the German Table Tennis League has been running a series called “Tschüss Timo” (or “Bye Timo”) which has posted Part 8 today. The original versions can be found at www.ttbl.de – in their original German or through auto translation. Boll’s Borussia Dusseldorf team won their semifinal last week, and they are now set to face Ochsenhausen in the Final of the TTBL. The Final of the TTBL will be played in Frankfurt, so Boll has played his last home match (in Dusseldorf).
The “Bye, Timo” series celebrating Boll’s farewell tour includes quotes and insights and personal experiences from his teammates, coaches, and officials. Clearly a single article could not fully address all of the aspects of this player – as Boll’s influence (and leadership, and sportsmanship, and reach across borders and across sports) cannot be overstated. He has already played his last international competition, and his last Olympics, and it appears that his retirement tour is rolling in to its last stop next month in Frankfurt. A summary of the “Bye, Timo” series is shown below along with links for accessing the full version online.
Bye, Timo – (Part 1 with Jörg Roßkopf): ‘Timo’s real achievement is his incredible consistency’
In Part 1, Jörg Roßkopf who was Germany’s National Coach and a former doubles partner, talked about “unparalleled consistency” and talked about the accomplishment of maintaining an elite level for 25 years.
Bye, Timo – (Part 2 with Bastian Steger): “Experiencing Timo was an enrichment for everyone”
In Part 2, Bastian Steger, a former German champion and teammate, discussed growing up with Boll. They first started competing and training at the age of 9 as juniors, and Boll developed faster than the others even as a young player. The two won medals together at two Olympics (2012 and 2016) and he sees Boll as having been a driving force in the sport with major impact on the TTBL and German table tennis overall.
Bye, Timo – (Part 3 with Helmut Hampl): “A role model that is rarely found in sport”
In Part 3, Boll’s longtime coach talks about his development as a junior and his ability to learn and adapt. He also discusses two major career turning points in Boll’s career – the World Cup victory in 2002 where Boll first defeated the top Chinese, and the move to Borussia Dusseldorf in 2007.
Bye, Timo – (Part 4 with Thomas Weikert): “A figurehead of German sport”
In Part 4, the former President of the German Table Tennis Federation, and International Table Tennis Federation discusses watching Boll’s rise to Germany’s most successful table tennis player. It adds a neat personal reflection of Boll’s personality noting a memorable jog through Belgrade during the European Championships where the two connected through conversation and humor.
Bye, Timo – (Part 5 with Christian Süß): “Timo made everyone else even better”
In Part 5, Christian Suss, the third player (with Boll and Ovtcharov) on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Silver Medal team, discussed Boll’s unique ability to raise the level of all of those around him. He remembers Boll’s genuine joy as teammates improved and that he appreciated that Boll didn’t view training as a competition but rather as a collective effort to help all of the participants grow.
Bye, Timo – (Part 6 with Danny Heister): “Timo’s sense of team spirit is a factor in many titles”
In Part 6, Danny Heister, a former teammate and longtime coach of Borussia Dusseldorf, discussed playing with Boll in Dusseldorf and then later returning to be his coach. Heister discussed intense training sessions, pushing each other to frustration. Through all of the ups and downs, Heister noted that Boll never let is success inflate his ego or his losses shake his confidence.
Bye, Timo – (Part 7 with Kristijan Pejinovic): “Timo will be a seal of quality for the TTBL for a long time to come”
In Part 7, Kristijan Pejinovic, the President of rival squad TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, talks about Boll as a formidable opponent. Even with Boll’s individual global influence, Pejinovic emphasized that Boll always acted with sportsmanship and respect – taking the time to greet opponents ahead of competitions.
Bye, Timo – (Part 8 with Andreas Preuß): “No professional has made as many people happy as Timo”
In Part 8, Andreas Preuss, Dusseldorf’s manager, discussed Boll’s impact beyond the sport making him a global ambassador for table tennis. Preuss also discussed Boll ‘s connection to the fans, and talked about his legacy and how it will shape the Dusseldorf team and German table tennis for many years.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.
