Ma Long never lost a single table tennis match at the Olympics

Ma long vs Jun Mizutani at Rio Olympics in 2016 was also one of the few close matches Ma long had.

Ma Long won  4-2.

It was one of the most memorable table tennis rally of all time from Ma long's GOAT career. 

Impressive indeed. When Waldner took his second gold in the World championship he didn't lose a single set.
When he won Olympic Gold 1992 he lost one set.

@inyagan 

Awesome. I believe this was the gold medal match between Jan-Ove Waldner and Jean-Philippe Gatien. 

Are you from Sweden @inyagan ?

Yes, correct video and yes I'm from Sweden.

Sweden didn't only had Waldner during this era. I think five out of top 10 in the World rankings where Swedes at some point. Waldner, Persson, Appelgren, Lindh, Karlsson.

Sweden won over China in the teams event with 5-0 1989 and won again 1991 and 1993 with the same players. Those five mentioned above.

Waldner and Persson played the final in the single event both 1989 and 1991. In these events you also have some of the greatest Europeans playing, Zoran Primorac, Petr Korbl, Gatien (Gold in single 1993), Rosskopf, Samsonov to name a few.

As a young kid Waldner travelled to China and participated in training camps there so he figuread out how to beat the pen-holders who otherwise had been so dominant and it is obvious that China has abandoned pen-grip for handshake.

Kind of ironic that chinese players today need to study young Felix Lebrun extra since he uses pen-grip. 😀 

Ma Long did play Waldner once in a competition match and won 3-1 in set. Waldner was 43 and looked like a regular dad with slight overweight. Ma Long was 20.

A take from that match "As I sat in the audience watching Waldner take on Ma Long, I couldn't help but be in awe of the talent and skill on display. The crowd was electric, cheering and gasping with every point. I tried to keep up with the fast-paced action, but my eyes could barely keep track of the ball as it zipped back and forth across the table. At one point, Waldner pulled off an incredible move that left Ma Long stunned, and the entire audience erupted in cheers. I couldn't believe I was witnessing history in the making, and I felt lucky to be a part of it all. As I left the arena that day, I couldn't help but think that Jan-Ove Waldner truly is the Mozart of table tennis, and I was honored to have seen him play in person."

@inyagan

Yeah, just as I thought. I knew you were Swedish or at least European because you knew quite a lot about the Swedish national team and European players in general.

Man, JO Waldner must have been a super celebrity back in the day. I'm a millennial; I wish I had witnessed the level of competition in world table tennis back then.

Do you still attend big table tennis events in person, or do you just watch them online?

To start with I'm a bit older almost 50 so I could follow these players from the television when I was young and also interested in table tennis but mostly I was playing soccer. Table tennis was just something I did for fun with friends in their basements.

Walder, Persson and those guys was the second generation after World champions such as Stellan Bengtsson - who gave the name to the Falkenberg exercise  - Ulf 'Tickan' Carlsson, Kjell 'the Sledgehammer' Johansson, Hans Alsér and so on. All with several gold medals from World championships.

So when the cold war between USA and Soviet came and houses and apartment was built with shelters to protect from Soviet Nukes they ended up as rooms for table tennis.

So kids in J-O Waldners generation in Sweden grew up with having a table tennis table in their apartment basement. So just as Björn Borg had been practicing tennis against a garage door, J-O Waldner, Mikael Appelgren and so on started to play table tennis in a basement with pictures of Stellan Bengtsson and those guys.

So in that sense Truls Möregårdh, Anton Karlberg and those guys and nowadays also girls are representing the third generation in Sweden. And again the table tennis tables has been rolled out and fold out while the garage has been cleaned from winter tires, sledges and old snowmobiles so that the father and son can play table tennis.
And I suppose that would be me, I have a son and he dream of Truls and we play in a basement and at a club.
And since his mom is from the Phillipines we are looking forward to come to you guys again and hopefully not collide with the national school championship in Cebu this time again so that there will be some free tables to us!

If not we can always build a garage next to our house in Inyagan and put up a picture for Stellan Bengtsson! 😆 

@inyagan 

Hey man, I would love to connect. I am now based in Lapu-lapu which is 1-1.5 hours away from Cebu City but I still visit the MECTELL group once or twice a month. Hopefully, one day we get to play together. There are few members here that are Cebu-based but not quite as active.

I remembered a Swedish-Filipina table tennis player who visited MECTELL in 2022, participated in the local tournament and won. I don't if you are familiar with her. Her name is Linnea Johannson and she is based in Sweden. Only came to the Philippines for a vacation I believe.