Table tennis at Tokyo 2020: winners and highlights

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were unlike any other: postponed to 2021 because of the pandemic and played in empty arenas. Table tennis still delivered. Ma Long did something no man had done before, Japan broke China's grip in a dramatic final and a new Olympic event made its debut.

Here are the podiums, the big moments and what Tokyo changed for Olympic ping pong.

When and where was it played?

Table tennis ran from July 24 to August 6, 2021, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. There were 173 athletes from 57 countries in five events. Under the health rules of the time, matches were played without spectators.

Tokyo also saw the debut of mixed doubles on the Olympic program. From 2008 to 2016 there had been four events: men's and women's singles and team. The full history is in table tennis at the Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 table tennis results

The big stories

Ma Long, the first two-time singles champion

The Rio 2016 champion, Ma Long beat teammate Fan Zhendong in the final and became the first man to win two Olympic singles golds in table tennis. With team gold, he added to a collection that would grow again at Paris 2024. For many fans, Tokyo settled the debate over the greatest player of all time, a debate covered in greatest table tennis players.

Mizutani and Ito stun China

The mixed doubles final was the match of the tournament. Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito trailed China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen 0-2 in games, came back and won 4-3. It was Japan's first-ever Olympic table tennis gold and the only gold China did not win in Tokyo. Ito also took singles bronze and team silver.

Chen Meng and the next generation

In women's singles, Chen Meng beat Sun Yingsha in the final, an all-Chinese matchup that would repeat three years later in Paris. Sun, then 20, left Tokyo with two silvers and a team gold and went on to become one of the best players in the world.

Germany's last big run with Boll

Dimitrij Ovtcharov won singles bronze and led Germany, with Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska, to team silver.

The Americas at Tokyo 2020

Brazil's Hugo Calderano became the first Brazilian to reach an Olympic table tennis quarterfinal. He beat South Korea's Jang Woojin 4-3 in the round of 16, then led Ovtcharov 2-0 in the quarterfinal before the German came back to win 4-2. Three years later Calderano went further, finishing fourth in Paris; see table tennis at Paris 2024 and Hugo Calderano.

What Tokyo changed

Mixed doubles was a hit and stayed for Paris 2024. For LA 2028, the ITTF went further and added a mixed team event. Tokyo also showed that China, for all its dominance, can lose in short formats like doubles, where one or two games change everything.

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