Ma Long’s most memorable competitions

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

This prepared him to make his debut four years later at London 2012what he says is his most meaningful and memorable tournament of his Olympic career.

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

“The Olympics was different from other tournaments in the past, even the World Championships, because it doesn’t matter whether you like playing sports or not, everyone watches the Olympics. So I felt a lot of pressure.

“What’s interesting is that I thought at the time, ‘wow, if I win this, I won’t be afraid to compete in other tournaments in the future,’ so (the medal team gold) was the most meaningful thing for me about the Olympics.

Most recently, after winning gold in Paris, Ma returned home to compete in the WTT 2024 Chinese Smash held in his hometown of Beijing, where he finished second. His two children were able, for the first time, to see him compete in person.

“I felt there was a great opportunity because even though my children know that I play table tennis, they had I’ve never seen myself play in person before,” he says.

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

“I also felt that I wouldn’t have many more opportunities to represent my country internationally, and if it wasn’t for Beijing, I might not even have participated. All kinds of reasons m made me want to perform there and enjoy my table tennis.

“I said to myself, the Olympics are over, I’m representing myself, I hope I can show the best of myself in front of my children and my audience. It was like the best tournament I’ve played in the last two years“.