Jan-Ove Waldner (; born 3 October 1965), Jan-Ove Waldner profile .'' Swedish Table Tennis Federation in Sweden commonly ''J-O Waldner'' or simply mononymously as ''J-O'' (), is a Swedish former professional
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. He is often referred to as "the
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
as well as in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, he is known in China as 老瓦 ''Lǎo Wǎ'' ("Old Wa") or 常青树 ''Cháng Qīng Shù'' ("Evergreen Tree"), because of his extraordinary longevity and competitiveness.
Biography
Jan-Ove Waldner was born in Stockholm on 3 October 1965. His athletic potential was recognised at an early age and was displayed in 1982 when, as a 16-year-old, he reached the final of the European Championships, losing to distinguished left-handed teammate
Mikael Appelgren
Kent Mikael Appelgren (born 15 October 1961 in Stockholm) is a Swedish former table tennis player.
Table tennis career
He was 4-times World Champion, 9-times European Champion, 2-times Europe Top-12 winner, and World Cup winner. He also won ...
, who was perceived then as the logical successor to the first Swedish World Champion,
Stellan Bengtsson
Stellan Bengtsson (born 26 July 1952) is a Swedish former table tennis player. He became the first Swede to win the men's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1971.men's singles at 1992 Summer Olympics, becoming the first and to date only player not from China, Japan, or South Korea to win an Olympic table tennis title. Eight years later, he won silver in the same event at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
, narrowly losing to Kong Linghui.
In China, a country that adores table tennis, he is undisputedly the best-known Swedish person, and still one of the most well-known sports personalities. In the 1990s, he was more recognisable in China than then-President of the United States
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
. His venerable status and long career has led to his being nicknamed "the Evergreen Tree" (Changqing Shu 常青树) in Mandarin. He is considered by many to be the most technically complete player of all time, and is almost inarguably the most successful non-Chinese player of the sport.
In 2010 Waldner won his ninth Swedish championship, defeating Pär Gerell, who was born the same year Waldner became Swedish national champion for the first time.
He played for TTC Rhön-Sprudel Fulda-Maberzell in the German Bundesliga until May 2012. In May 2012 Stefan Frauenholz, Fulda-Maberzell's President, confirmed that Jan-Ove Waldner had finished his contract with the club.
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 ...
: "Was yesterday's match against us the last one for Jan-Ove Waldner?", referring to the Bundesliga semifinal between
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 ...
and Fulda-Maberzell. This ended his career at the international elite level, at the age of 46 years.
In 2012 he began playing for Spårvägens BTK.
On 11 February 2016, Waldner played his last game in the Swedish first league for Ängby/Spårvägen and officially announced his retirement as a player.
When he retired, Waldner had been playing international elite level table tennis for more than thirty years, which is somewhat unusual in the table tennis world given that hand–eye coordination and quick reactions are essential. Some young Chinese players whom he has recently played against were trained by those he played against in the 1990s, who were in turn trained by others he played in the 1980s.
He is one of the seven table tennis players who competed at the first five Olympic Games table tennis tournaments since the sport's introduction at the Games in 1988. The others are Swede Jörgen Persson, Croatian
Zoran Primorac
Zoran Primorac (born 10 May 1969) is a retired Croatian table tennis player. He is a two-time winner of the World Cup and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number ...
Ilija Lupulesku
Ilija Lupulesku ( sr-cyr, Илија Лупулеску; ; born October 30, 1967) is a former Yugoslavian and later American table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. cit ...
, and German Jörg Roßkopf.
He was also the first of only six male players in the history of table tennis to achieve a career grand slam (World Champion, World Cup and Olympic gold medal winner in singles) (in 1992). The others are:
Liu Guoliang
Liu Guoliang (; born January 10, 1976) is a retired Chinese people, Chinese table tennis player. He is the first Chinese male player to achieve a career grand slam of three majors (Olympic Games, World Cup, World Championships). He is considered ...
Ma Long
Ma Long ( zh, s=马龙, p=Mǎ Lóng; born 20 October 1988) is a Chinese professional table tennis player. He is a two-time Olympic champion, three-time World Champion, and three-time World Cup champion in men's singles. Widely regarded as the g ...
, China (in 2016), and
Fan Zhendong
Fan Zhendong (, pronounced ; born 22 January 1997) is a Chinese professional table tennis player. After joining the Chinese national table tennis team in 2012 as the youngest member, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion a ...
1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
Gold medal in single, first round in double
*
1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
Final 16 in single, final 8 in double
*
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
Silver medal in single, final 16 in double
*
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
Fourth in single, final 8 in double
World championships
* 1983 Silver medal in team competition
* 1985 Silver medal in team competition
* 1987 Silver medal in single, silver medal in team competition
* 1989 Gold medal in single, gold medal in team competition
* 1991 Silver medal in single, gold medal in team competition
* 1993 Bronze medal in single, gold medal in team competition
* 1995 Silver medal in team competition
* 1997 Gold medal in single (21-0 in games), silver medal in double
* 1999 Bronze medal in single
* 2000 Gold medal in team competition
* 2001 Bronze medal in team competition
European Championships
* 1982 Silver medal in single
* 1984 Silver medal in double, bronze medal in team competition
* 1986 Gold medal in double, gold medal in team competition
* 1988 Gold medal in double, gold medal in team competition
* 1990 Gold medal in team competition
* 1992 Silver medal in double, gold medal in team competition
* 1994 Silver medal in single, silver medal in team competition
* 1996 Gold medal in single, gold medal in double, gold medal in team competition
* 1998 Bronze medal in double, bronze medal in team competition
* 2000 Bronze medal in single, gold medal in team competition
* 2002 Gold medal in team competition
Swedish Championships
* 1981 Gold medal in double
* 1982 Gold medal in double
* 1983 Gold medal in single
* 1984 Gold medal in single
* 1986 Gold medal in single, gold medal in double
* 1987 Silver medal in double
* 1989 Gold medal in single, silver medal in double
* 1991 Gold medal in single, gold medal in double
* 1992 Gold medal in double
* 1993 Silver medal in double
* 1994 Silver medal in single, gold medal in double
* 1996 Gold medal in single
* 1997 Gold medal in single, silver medal in double
* 1999 Gold medal in double
* 2006 Gold medal in single
* 2010 Gold medal in single
* 2011 Gold in inter branch tournament
See also
*
List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
Only a small fraction of the world's population ever competes at the Olympic Games; an even smaller fraction competes in multiple Games. 950 athletes (648 men and 302 women) have participated in at least five Olympics from 1896 Summer Olympics ...
Notes
References
* ''Svenskar i världen'' (''Swedes in the World''), Spring edition 2005, Swedish magazine.