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Table tennis has been part of the Summer Olympic Games since 1988. Participants compete in both men and women's singles and doubles events, mixed doubles, and, for the first time in LA28 there will be a mixed team event. In Olympic history, the table tennis medals have been dominated by athletes from China.

Changes in Olympic Table Tennis over time

• From 1988 until 2004, there were four events, men and women's singles and doubles.
• From 2008 onwards, there were still four events, though the doubles events were replaced by men's and women's team events.
• The mixed doubles event was added in 2020.
• A mixed team event was added for 2028, while the men's and women's team events have been replaced with the men's and women's doubles events, for a total of six events.

LA 2028 Table Tennis

There will be six events at the Los Angeles Olympics:

• men and women's singles
• men and women's doubles
• mixed doubles
• mixed team

Olympic Table Tennis Trivia

• At the first Olympic table tennis tournament in Seoul 1988, none of the top five seeded players made it to the semi-finals in the men's competition.
• The best all-time performing table tennis Player at the Olympic Games is Ma Long from China with five gold medals from 2012 to 2020. The best performing female player is Wang Nan also from China with four golds and one silver. See more on the Greatest Table Tennis Players at the Olympics.
• At the 1992 Olympics, two bronze medals were awarded in each event (this is the only time this was the case)
• At 2008 Summer Olympics the Chinese table tennis team won eight medals and made podium sweeps in the men's and woman's singles events. Since then, the format was changed so that each NOC may enter a maximum of two competitors in the singles events.
• At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 11-year-old Syrian table tennis player Hend Zazabecame the youngest Olympian in more than 50 years. Not only was she is the youngest competitor in the Tokyo Games, she was the youngest table tennis participant of all time and the youngest overall Olympian since the 1968 Winter Olympics.
• The oldest ever table tennis player also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Ni Xialian, a female Chinese-born table tennis player represented Luxembourg, aged 58 years old. This record was surpassed in 2024 - Chilean player Zhiying Zeng competed at Paris 2024, she was 58 year old at the time.
• Japan caused a major upset, ending China's overwhelming dominance in table tennis by winning Olympic gold in mixed doubles in Tokyo 2020.

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Related Pages

• More about the sport of Table Tennis
• Table Tennis Tournament Calendar
• Table tennis at the Paralympics
• A History of Table Tennis
• Table Tennis player Profiles
• List of Olympic Sports