Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place from Saturday 28 July to Wednesday 8 August 2012 at ExCeL London. 174 athletes, 86 men and 88 women, competed in four events.[1] Table tennis has appeared at the Summer Olympics on six previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Games in Seoul.[2] In addition to men's and women's singles, the team events were staged for the second time since replacing doubles events at the 2008 Beijing Games. China was the defending champion in each of the Olympic events having won all 4 gold medals in 2008.[2]
| Table tennis at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Venue | ExCeL London |
| Dates | 28 July - 8 August 2012 |
| Competitors | 174 from 57 nations |
Qualification
editAs hosts Great Britain qualified six athletes automatically; a team of three men, one of whom competed in the singles, and a team of three women, one of whom competed in the singles.[3][4]
The top 28 male and top 28 female players on the International Table Tennis Federation's ranking list immediately after the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships, which finished on 15 May 2011 in the Netherlands, were qualified for the singles events at Games. No nation can have more than two players per gender in the singles events at the Games, so some players below 28th place were given a qualification berth based on their rankings.[5]
Ten continental qualification tournaments then were used to assign a total of 40 places between 28 June 2011 and 22 April 2012.[3] A final qualification tournament took place on 12 May 2012 to assign a further two places per gender. One invitational place per gender was allocated by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Entries for the team events were decided after the final qualification tournament ended on 13 May 2012. The highest-ranked nation at the 2012 World Team Championships from each of the six continents earned the right to enter as long as three of its players had met the qualification criteria for the singles event. Except for the host British team, the qualification of the other 15 NOCs was based on the number of the qualified players and the ranking of the 2012 World Team Championships.
Competition schedule
edit| P | Preliminary rounds | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | F | Final |
| Event↓/Date → | Sat 28 | Sun 29 | Mon 30 | Tue 31 | Wed 1 | Thu 2 | Fri 3 | Sat 4 | Sun 5 | Mon 6 | Tue 7 | Wed 8 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's singles | P | ¼ | ½ | F | ||||||||||
| Men's team | P | ¼ | ½ | F | ||||||||||
| Women's singles | P | ¼ | ½ | F | ||||||||||
| Women's team | P | ¼ | ½ | F | ||||||||||
Participating nations
editA total of 174 athletes (86 men and 88 women), representing 57 NOCs, competed in four events.[6]
Argentina (1)
Australia (6)
Austria (6)
Belarus (3)
Belgium (1)
Brazil (6)
Cameroon (1)
Canada (4)
Chile (1)
China (6)
Colombia (1)
Republic of the Congo (3)
Croatia (4)
Cuba (1)
Czech Republic (2)
Denmark (3)
Djibouti (1)
Dominican Republic (1)
Egypt (6)
France (3)
Germany (6)
Great Britain (6)
Greece (2)
Hong Kong (6)
Hungary (4)
India (2)
Iran (2)
Italy (2)
Japan (6)
Kuwait (1)
Latvia (1)
Lebanon (1)
Luxembourg (1)
Mexico (1)
Netherlands (3)
Nigeria (4)
North Korea (6)
Paraguay (1)
Poland (4)
Portugal (4)
Qatar (1)
Romania (3)
Russia (5)
Serbia (2)
Singapore (6)
Slovenia (1)
South Korea (7)
Spain (5)
Sweden (3)
Chinese Taipei (3)
Thailand (1)
Togo (1)
Turkey (2)
Ukraine (4)
United States (4)
Vanuatu (2)
Venezuela (1)
Medal summary
editMedal table
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 |  Japan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 South Korea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 |  Germany | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Singapore | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Totals (5 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
Events
editAll events at the Games took the form of a knockout competition.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's singles |
Zhang Jike China
|
Wang Hao China
|
Dimitrij Ovtcharov Germany
|
| Men's team |
China (CHN) Wang Hao Zhang Jike Ma Long |
South Korea (KOR) Oh Sang-eun Joo Se-hyuk Ryu Seung-min |
Germany (GER) Timo Boll Dimitrij Ovtcharov Bastian Steger |
| Women's singles |
Li Xiaoxia China
|
Ding Ning China
|
Feng Tianwei Singapore
|
| Women's team |
China (CHN) Ding Ning Li Xiaoxia Guo Yue |
Japan (JPN) Ai Fukuhara Sayaka Hirano Kasumi Ishikawa |
Singapore (SIN) Li Jiawei Feng Tianwei Wang Yuegu |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Olympic Table Tennis Press Kit" (PDF). ITTF. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
- ^ a b "London 2012 Olympics: table tennis guide". The Telegraph. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ a b "Qualification System – Games of the XXX Olympiad" (PDF). ITTF. 23 June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ "Team GB take table tennis places for 2012 Olympics". BBC Sport. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ "London 2012 Olympics qualifying: Table Tennis". BBC Sport. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ "Athlete count for Table Tennis". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
External links
edit
Media related to Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics at Wikimedia Commons
- Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics. London2012.com. at the UK Government Web Archive (archived 28 February 2013)
- Official results book – Table Tennis. London2012.com. at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 April 2013)
- International Table Tennis Federation: 2012 Olympic Games. ITTF.com. at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 October 2011)
- Table Tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics (archived)