Dimitrij Ovtcharov () or Dmytro Ovtcharov (; born 2 September 1988) is a Ukrainian-born German

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. His father Mikhail (or Mikhaylo), a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born. Since 2008, Ovtcharov has won a total of two silver and four bronze medals at the Olympics, making him second most decorated male Olympian in the table tennis category in terms of the number of medals awarded. Ranked first January to February 2018, he is ranked ninth in the world by the

International Table Tennis Federation The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the Sport governing body, governing body for all national table tennis associations that use ITTF-approved sponge table tennis rackets. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regula ...

(ITTF) as of November 2022.

Career

At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Ovtcharov won the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

as part of the German men's team, together with

Timo Boll Timo Boll (, ; born 8 March 1981) is a German former professional table tennis player. Boll is the most successful German table tennis player of all time, having won several medals at Olympic Games, world cups, and world championships. He was ra ...

and Christian Süß. He used a special technique in his serves, which was later picked by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine as one of the top 50 innovations of 2008. On 22 September 2010, Ovtcharov had been suspended by the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB) due to a positive A-sample test for Clenbuterol that may be used as a performance-enhancing substance. Ovtcharov himself denied the doping accusation and requested a B-sample analysis which still tested positive. After hearings and further investigations, the hair sample voluntarily offered by Ovtcharov showed no evidence of clenbuterol and its abuse. DTTB later unanimously decided to cancel the suspension on 15 October 2010. The decision was endorsed by ITTF. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Ovtcharov won bronze medals in singles and team events. In June 2015, he won a gold medal at the inaugural European Games. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, he was defeated by

Vladimir Samsonov Vladimir Samsonov or Uładzimir Samsonau (, , born 17 April 1976) is a Belarusian former professional table tennis player. He is known in China as the "Tai Chi Master" because of his superb all-around style, both offensive and defensive.

in the singles quarter-final. He then won a team bronze medal. In June 2017, he won the title at the China Open against Timo Boll (4 sets to 3), and in August 2017 he won the title at the Bulgaria Open. In January 2018, Ovtcharov became the World's Number 1 Table Tennis Player.

2021

In March, Ovtcharov played in WTT Doha. He won the WTT Contender event and reached the semi-finals of the WTT Star Contender event. Notably, Ovtcharov made several key tactical adjustments to upset Lin Yun-Ju in the finals after losing to Lin in their previous four encounters. As a result of his performance in Doha, Ovtcharov rejoined the top ten in the world rankings. In June, Ovtcharov played in the European Table Tennis Championships, reaching the finals before losing to his German national teammate Timo Boll. In July, two weeks before the Tokyo Olympics Ovtcharov withdrew from an internal German Olympic Scrimmage due to a leg injury. Ovtcharov won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in the men's singles event. Ovtcharov reached the finals of the men's team event, earning his record sixth Olympic medal.

Equipment

Ovtcharov is a right-handed player and uses the shakehand grip. He is a

Butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

-sponsored athlete. He uses the Butterfly Ovtcharov Innerforce ALC blade with Butterfly Dignics 09C on his forehand and Butterfly Dignics 05 on his backhand.

Club career

* TSV Schwalbe Tündern *

Borussia Düsseldorf Borussia Düsseldorf is a table tennis club from the North Rhine-Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf. It is Germany's most successful table tennis club and, with 78 titles, the second most successful German sports club af ...

(2007–2009) * Royal Villette Charleroi (2009–2010) * Gazprom Fakel Orenburg (2010–2022) * TTC Neu-Ulm (2022–2024) * Olympiakos Piraeus (2023–2024) * TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell (2024–)

Personal life

Ovtcharov married Swedish table tennis player Jenny Mellström in 2013. Their daughter, Emma, was born in 2016.(28 August 2016
"Dimitrij Ovtcharov becomes a father"
ITTF, Retrieved 14 October 2016

Career records

Singles (as of 6 July 2013) *

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

: round of 16 (2008, 2024), Quarter-Finals (2016), bronze medal (2012, 2020). *

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

: round of 16 (2009, 2011, 2013, 2017), round of 64 (2015). *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

appearances: 1st in 2017 5. Record: 5–8th (2008, 09, 10, 11), 3rd (2013, 2015). * World Tour winner (9): 2010 India Open. 2011 Brazil Open. 2011 Korea Open. 2012 German Open. 2014 German Open. 2017 India Open. 2017 China Open. 2017 Bulgaria Open. 2017 German Open.
Runner-up (2): 2009 Danish Open. 2010 Polish Open. * World Tour Grand Finals appearances: 9. Record: Runner-up (2014, 2017). *

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

: SF (2007), Runner-up (2020), Winner (2013, 2015). * Europe Top-12: Winner (2012). * Europe Top-16: Winner (2015, 2016, 2017). Doubles * World Championships: round of 16 (2009). * Pro Tour winner (1): 2007 Chinese Taipei Open. * Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 1. Record: QF (2007). Mixed doubles * World Championships: round of 64 (2007). Team * Olympics: Silver (2008), Bronze (2012), Bronze (2016), Silver (2020). * European Games: 4th (2015). * World Championships: 2nd (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018). *

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

: 3rd (2009, 2011). * European Championships: 1st (2007–2011, 2013, 2017, 2019) 2nd (2014, 2015).

References

External links