Paris 2024 table tennis: People's Republic of China's Fan Zhendong beats Sweden's Truls Möregårdh to win men's individual gold
The People's Republic of China's Fan Zhendong beat Sweden’s Truls Möregårdh 4-1 to win his first individual Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024 on Sunday, 4 August.
As the 2024 singles world champion, this is the second time this year that Fan will stand atop the podium after days of gruelling competition against the greatest table tennis players in the world.
The Swede, who is ranked 26th in the world according to the ITTF world rankings, looked like he might be setting up for an upset in the final, after he dominated Fan 11-8 in game one to take the lead.
It would not be out of the question for Möregårdh to overcome the reigning world champion, as his journey to the gold-medal match was full of unexpected upsets, including his round-of-32 win against world number one Wang Chuqin.
“To have to face an opponent like [Möregårdh] in an Olympic final is something that was frankly quite scary,” Fan said.
Following his game one loss in the best-of-seven format, Fan took control and found victory in the next four consecutive games to win the Olympic gold medal.
“I lost the first game, then fell behind in the second and third game. If I had not dealt with some key points well, the result might have been different,” said Fan. “But that also means I was able to see my own growth today. I believed in myself, and was able to adjust and find solutions today. I’m quite happy with that.”
Möregårdh**,** who takes the silver in his Games debut, was thrilled with what he had accomplished, saying, “with my draw, my seeding, a silver should be impossible to do at the first Olympics, so I'm super proud.
"I probably played better in this match than I did against the world number one [Wang] in round two. I can't do it much better than this. I tried everything I've got in my tool box, so a silver medal feels reasonable after this game. He deserved the gold medal. No regrets from me."
France’s Felix Lebrun took the bronze in front of a raucous home crowd earlier in the day after beating Brazil's Hugo Calderano 4-0.
Table tennis: men's singles podium
Gold: Fan Zhendong, People’s Republic of China
Silver: Truls Moregard, Sweden
Bronze: Felix Lebrun, France