Jan-Ove Waldner (original) (raw)

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Swedish table tennis player

Jan-Ove Waldner
Jan-Ove Waldner
Personal information
Full name Jan-Ove Waldner
Nickname(s) 老瓦 (Lǎo Wǎ, "Old Wa")
Nationality Swedish
Born (1965-10-03) 3 October 1965 (age 59)Stockholm, Sweden
Table tennis career
Playing style Shakehand grip
Medal record Men's table tennis Representing Sweden Olympic Games Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona Singles Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Singles World Championships Gold medal – first place 1989 Dortmund Singles Gold medal – first place 1989 Dortmund Team Gold medal – first place 1991 Chiba Team Gold medal – first place 1993 Gothenburg Team Gold medal – first place 1997 Manchester Singles Gold medal – first place 2000 Kuala Lumpur Team Silver medal – second place 1983 Tokyo Team Silver medal – second place 1985 Gothenburg Team Silver medal – second place 1987 New Delhi Singles Silver medal – second place 1987 New Delhi Team Silver medal – second place 1991 Chiba Singles Silver medal – second place 1995 Tianjin Team Silver medal – second place 1997 Manchester Doubles Bronze medal – third place 1993 Gothenburg Singles Bronze medal – third place 1999 Eindhoven Singles Bronze medal – third place 2001 Osaka Team World Cup Gold medal – first place 1990 Chiba City Singles Gold medal – first place 1990 Chiba City Team Silver medal – second place 1983 Barbados Singles Silver medal – second place 1991 Barcelona Team Silver medal – second place 1994 Nimes Team Silver medal – second place 1996 Nimes Singles Bronze medal – third place 1991 Barcelona Singles European Championships Gold medal – first place 1986 Prague Doubles Gold medal – first place 1986 Prague Team Gold medal – first place 1988 Paris Doubles Gold medal – first place 1988 Paris Team Gold medal – first place 1990 Gothenburg Team Gold medal – first place 1992 Stuttgart Team Gold medal – first place 1996 Bratislava Singles Gold medal – first place 1996 Bratislava Doubles Gold medal – first place 1996 Bratislava Team Gold medal – first place 2000 Bremen Team Gold medal – first place 2002 Zagreb Team Silver medal – second place 1982 Budapest Singles Silver medal – second place 1984 Moscow Doubles Silver medal – second place 1992 Stuttgart Doubles Silver medal – second place 1994 Birmingham Singles Silver medal – second place 1994 Birmingham Team Bronze medal – third place 1984 Moscow Team Bronze medal – third place 1988 Paris Singles Bronze medal – third place 1998 Eindhoven Doubles Bronze medal – third place 1998 Eindhoven Team Bronze medal – third place 2000 Bremen Singles

Jan-Ove Waldner[a] (Swedish: [ˈjɑːn uːvɛ ˈvǎldnɛr]; born 3 October 1965),[1][2] in Sweden commonly J-O Waldner (Swedish: [ˈjiː uː]), is a Swedish former professional table tennis player. He is often referred to as "the Mozart of table tennis."[3][4] A sporting legend in his native Sweden as well as in China,[3] he is known in China as 老瓦 Lǎo Wǎ ("Old Wa") or 常青树 Cháng Qīng Shù ("Evergreen Tree"),[5] because of his extraordinary longevity and competitiveness.

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, who was perceived then as the logical successor to the first Swedish World Champion, Stellan Bengtsson. While still developing his game, Waldner, along with several other Swedish players, traveled to a national-level training camp held in China, and was reportedly amazed by the dedication and solidarity of the Chinese players. He has claimed ever since that he learned much during his stay, and thereafter first began to regard his opportunity to succeed in table tennis as paramount.

Waldner won gold in the 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.[6] Eight years later, he won silver in the same event at the 2000 Summer Olympics, narrowly losing to Kong Linghui.

In China, a country that adores table tennis, he is undisputedly the best-known[3] 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.[7] 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: "Was yesterday's match against us the last one for Jan-Ove Waldner?", referring to the Bundesliga semifinal between Borussia Düsseldorf and Fulda-Maberzell. This ended his career at the international elite level, at the age of 46 years.[8][9]

In 2012 he began playing for Spårvägens BTK.[10]

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.[11]

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, Belgian Jean-Michel Saive, Hungarian Csilla Bátorfi, Serbian-American Ilija Lupulesku, 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, China (in 1999), Kong Linghui, China (in 2000), Zhang Jike, China (in 2012), Ma Long, China (in 2016), and Fan Zhendong, China (in 2024).[12][13]

World championships

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European Championships

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Swedish Championships

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  1. ^ Officially spelled Valdner in the Swedish civil records.
  1. ^ Jan-Ove Waldner profile Archived 2008-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Swedish Table Tennis Federation
  2. ^ Biography of WALDNER Jan-Ove Archived 2009-02-09 at the Wayback Machine. ITTF.
  3. ^ a b c Bishop, G. (August 23, 2008). A Swedish face for China’s beloved sport. The New York Times.
  4. ^ Clarey, C. (August 23, 2004). For 'table tennis Mozart,' few high notes. International Herald Tribune.
  5. ^ Jan-Ove “Evergreen” Waldner – Table Tennis Legend. Game Tables Online
  6. ^ "China table tennis boss says Olympic Covid rules 'extremely difficult'". 14 July 2021.
  7. ^ "一个人对抗国乒六代选手，我们热爱的"老瓦"回来了". The Paper (in Chinese). 2019-05-30. Retrieved 20 February 2021. 上世纪1990年代，瓦尔德内尔在中国的知名度甚至超过了美国总统克林顿。
  8. ^ "Table Tennista Europe". Archived from the original on 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  9. ^ Fulda-Maberzell web site, retrieved 19 July, 2012
  10. ^ "Spårvägens BTK men's team in the 2012/13 season". Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
  11. ^ "Waldner Officially retired". Archived from the original on 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
  12. ^ "Sport Olympics 2012: table tennis". The Guardian. London. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Fan Zhendong praised on Chinese social as Olympic gold seals career grand slam".