1992 Barcelona Olympics – Jan-Ove Waldner
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Widely considered to be the greatest player of all time, legendary Swedish paddler Jan-Ove Waldner won the gold medal in 1992, beating Jean-Philippe Gatien in the final. A sporting legend in his native Sweden and TT crazy China, Waldner is inarguably one of the greatest ever “shakehand grip” players of all time.
Waldner popularly known as the Mozart of Table Tennis was known for his excellent ball control and counter-attacking style, baffling his opponents by blocking seemingly unretrievable balls.
The Swedish paddler always remained calm under pressure and he always brought his best game out at the most important time. Waldner was so popular in China that in the early 1990s, more people in China knew Waldner than US President Bill Clinton.
Starting his professional career in 1982 as a 16-year-old, Waldner demonstrated remarkable longevity to play at the highest level for more than 30 years before finally calling time on his career in 2015. One of the only 4 players in male table tennis history to win the grand slam (World Championship, World Cup and Olympic singles winner), Waldner is fully worthy of the word “legend”.
Waldner’s blocks are renowned throughout the world and the below video shows the Mozart creating some brilliant music on the table:
