Ma Long’s most memorable competitions

Ma has played international tournaments for more than 15 years and attended the Olympic Games. Beijing 2008 as a training and sparring partner although he did not participate in the competition.

That prepared him for his royal debut four years later in London 2012which according to him is his most significant and memorable tournament of his Olympic career.

“I was very nervous before the competition,” he remembers.

“The Olympics were different from other tournaments in the past, even the World Championships, because regardless of whether you enjoy the sport, everyone watches the Olympics. So I felt a lot of pressure.

“The interesting thing is that at that moment I thought, ‘Wow, if I win this, I won’t be afraid to participate in other tournaments in the future,’ so (the team gold medal) was the most meaningful thing for me about the Games. Olympics.”

More recently, after winning gold in Paris, Ma returned home to compete in the WTT China Smash 2024 held in his hometown, Beijing, where finished runner-up. His two children were able, for the first time, to see him compete in person.

“I felt there was a great opportunity because although my children know that I play table tennis, they had has never seen me play in person before,” he says.

“As I happened to be in Beijing, which also hasn’t hosted an event for a long time, I wanted them to experience the charm of table tennis and enjoy the atmosphere.

“I also felt like I wouldn’t have many more opportunities to represent my country internationally, and if it wasn’t in Beijing maybe I wouldn’t have even participated. So all kinds of reasons made me want to perform well there and enjoy my table tennis. .

“I thought, the Olympics are over, I’m representing myself, I hope I can do my best in front of my kids and my home crowd. I felt like The best tournament I played in the last two years.“.