Jan-Ove Waldner

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

Jan-Ove Waldner (Stockholm, 3 October 1965) is a Swedish table tennis player. He is known as "the Mozart of table tennis" and is a legend in his native Sweden as well as in China. In China he is known as 老瓦 Lao Wa - "Old Wa(ldner)" or 常青树 Chang Qing Shu - "Evergreen". He is widely considered to be one of the greatest player of all time.

Biography

Waldner's potential was recognized at an early age and was displayed in 1982 as a 16-year-old when he reached the final of the European Championship, losing to teammate Mikael Appelgren. When he was young, he, along with other Swedish players, went to a training camp in China and was amazed by their dedication and claims he learned much during his stay. In China, a country that loves table tennis, he is the best-known Swede and a well-known sports personality. In the 1990s he was more recognized in China than Bill Clinton. Waldner is referred to as "the evergreen tree", "Michael Jordan of Table tennis" and "Old Wald", and people often flock to see him when he comes.

As of 2010, Waldner has been playing high-level table tennis for some 30 years, which is unusual in the table tennis world where hand-eye coordination and quick reactions are essential factors. Some young Chinese players that he has recently played against are trained by those he played against in the 1990s, who were in turn trained by others he played against in the 1980s.

Today he plays for TTC Rhön-Sprudel Fulda-Maberzell in the German Bundesliga. He received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1992.

He is one of seven active table tennis players to have competed at the first five Olympics since the sport was introduced to 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.

In 2010 Waldner won his ninth Swedish championship against Pär Gerell, born the same year Waldner became Swedish champion for the first time.

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

Olympic Games

• 1988 Final 8 in single, final 8 in double
• 1992 Gold medal in single, first round in double
• 1996 Final 16 in single, final 8 in double
• 2000 Silver medal in single, final 16 in double
• 2004 Fourth in single, final 8 in double

European Championships

• 1982 Silver medal in single
• 1984 Silver medal in double
• 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
• 2000 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
• 1988 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
• 2010 Gold medal in single

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

References

• Svenskar i världen (Swedes in the World), Spring edition 2005, Swedish magazine.

External links

• International championship statistics
• Swedish championship statistics
• Jan-Ove Waldner vs. Mikael Appelgren - 1990 U.S. Open Table Tennis Championships Video

Preceded by Pernilla Wiberg

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal 1992

Succeeded by Torgny Mogren