Table Tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Dates 24 July – 6 August 2021
Medal Events 5

The table tennis competitions were held between 24 July and 6 August in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Tōkyō Taiikukan). A total of 174 athletes (86 men and 88 women), representing 57 NOCs, competed in five events. For the first time since 2008, when the men’s and women’s doubles were replaced by respective team events, the program was changed. In line with the IOC’s attempt to introduce more mixed events, a mixed doubles contest was added. Interestingly, the women’s singles saw 70 players competing compared to 65 in the men’s event. For the mixed doubles, as well as for both team events, only one team per country could qualify for a maximum of 16 teams in each event.

Just like at the 2008-16 Olympics, the People’s Republic of China took gold and silver in both men and women’s singles and also gold in the two team events. Ma Long repeated his 2016 double gold success, while the women’s events saw the rise of Chen Meng taking gold in both the singles and team event. In the mixed, Japan with Rio medallists Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito probably benefitted from the home advantage and defeated the Chinese pair in seven hard-fought games, 4-3. In the medal count, Japan placed second behind the dominant Chinese with one gold, one silver and two bronze. The 32-year-old veteran Dimitrij Ovtcharov won bronze in the singles and silver in the team event as Germany’s top player. He added the medals number five and six to his tally, as he took home at least one medal from every Olympics since 2008.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Singles, Men Olympic 24 – 30 July 2021 64 43
Team, Men Olympic 1 – 6 August 2021 48 16
Singles, Women Olympic 24 – 29 July 2021 70 44
Team, Women Olympic 1 – 5 August 2021 48 16
Doubles, Mixed Olympic 24 – 26 July 2021 32 16
173 (85/88) 57 (44/44)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Singles, Men Ma LongCHN Fan ZhendongCHN Dimitrij OvtcharovGER
Team, Men People's Republic of ChinaCHN GermanyGER JapanJPN
Singles, Women Chen MengCHN Sun YingshaCHN Mima ItoJPN
Team, Women People's Republic of ChinaCHN JapanJPN Hong Kong, ChinaHKG
Doubles, Mixed JapanJPN People's Republic of ChinaCHN Chinese TaipeiTPE

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
People's Republic of China CHN 4 3 0 7
Japan JPN 1 1 2 4
Germany GER 0 1 1 2
Chinese Taipei TPE 0 0 1 1
Hong Kong, China HKG 0 0 1 1