Werner Schlager

Austrian table tennis player Werner Schlager participated in five editions of the Summer Olympics from Atlanta 1996 through to London 2012. He was the most prominent Austrian table tennis player during his active career. Schlager competed in the men’s doubles partnering Karl Jindrak from 1996-2004, but they were eliminated in the group stage in 1996 and in the third round in 2004. At Athens, the pair lost 3-2 in their quarter-final to the French duo Patrick Chila and Jean-Philippe Gatien and placed tied fifth.

Schlager also competed in the men’s singles at all five Olympics. Reaching the quarter-final in 2000, losing 3-2 to the eventual champion Kong Linghui from China. This was Schlager’s best individual Olympic result. With the Austrian team Schlager placed unfortunate fourth in 2008 losing the bronze medal match against South Korea 3-1.

Jindrak and Schlager had their greatest sports moment by winning the 2005 European Championships. The pair also added bronze medals in 1998, 2000, and 2002. With Dutch player Trinko Keen, Schlager collected a European silver medal in 2008 and with Patrick Chila, another bronze in 2007.

Schlager won the mixed event at the 2003 European Championships with Hungarian Krisztina Tóth and won two more bronze medals with Austria’s Liu Jia in 2002 and 2005. With the Austrian team, he also won silver in 2005, and bronze in 2002, 2008, and 2011.

In 2003, Schlager had his greatest personal moment by winning the World Championships and becoming world #1. He was Austria’s first men’s singles champion since Richard Bergmann in 1937 (although Bergmann won the title three more times representing England), and the last non-Chinese player to win the title. Schlager was also runner-up in 2009 and third in 1999, 2002, 2008, and 2010.

Domestically, Schlager won more than 20 national titles. In 2003, he was awarded the Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria and was elected Austria’s Sportsman of the Year. The same year a postage stamp with his headshot was released, the first Austrian sportsman to appear on a stamp. In 2023, he was elected Sportsman of the Century and Sports Legend of Austria.