On 10 April 2025, the IOC announced an important decision to increase the total number of table tennis gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics from five to six, with the men’s singles, women’s singles, and mixed doubles remaining unchanged, reinstating the previously cancelled men’s doubles and women’s doubles events but no longer setting up men’s and women’s teams and replacing them with mixed teams instead, and a lot of hot air ensued.
So what is the reason for the above changes appeared? What will be the impact of this reform on the national ping? And what does it mean for the whole bing world? Let’s analyse it in depth.
First of all, the reform of this Olympic Games is not only the witness of all the efforts of the ping pong world, but also the result of the game between Chinese and foreign associations.
As we all know, although table tennis is a ‘century-old sport’, it has been outside the Olympic family for a long time, and it was not until 1988 that table tennis was first introduced into the Olympic Games – compared to football, basketball, tennis and other highly commercialised sports, table tennis has had to be largely relegated to the background of the Olympic Games. Compared to highly commercialised sports such as football, basketball and tennis, table tennis has had to rely heavily on the Olympics to expand its influence, but this has also left it with a limited voice in the Olympic Committee.
In recent years, however, the commercial value of table tennis has risen dramatically and the sport has become more sought after around the world, so naturally it is taken more seriously, and the increase or decrease in Olympic gold medals is the result of the Olympic Committee’s assessment of the sport’s influence: it is clear that table tennis is now recognised by the Olympic Committee for the way it has flourished.
But as the saying goes, pro-brothers also have to be clear accounts, in the goal of increasing Olympic gold medals, the table tennis world between the associations are one heart, however, what items to increase, cut what items but each has its own mind, such as the Tokyo Olympics Japan proposed to increase the mixed doubles gold, is because of the mixed doubles of those years Japan’s performance has improved dramatically, especially in 2017 to get the title of the World Championships, it did not take long to take advantage of hosting status to push for table tennis to add this event to the Olympics.
The reform of the Los Angeles Olympics is also the result of a number of games: first, no matter which item is added, the Chinese team is the biggest favourite to win the championship; second, the mixed team is almost a must-win item for the national ping pong (because our men’s and women’s teams are the most balanced and strongest); third, compared to the men’s team and the women’s team, the outside associations of the men’s doubles and women’s doubles cold win the possibility of gold is relatively greater.
To sum up, this reform has taken into account the interests of all associations in the ping-pong world, and both Chinese and foreigners can take advantage of it, but it has left enough suspense.
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Secondly, we can analyse in depth, what will be the specific impact of this reform on the national ping?
As we all know, no matter which competition item is added, surely we have to compete with the strength, and in terms of strength, the Chinese team is obviously the strongest ping pong, so no matter how to change is the biggest favourite to win the championships, theoretically, it is entirely possible that in Los Angeles unprecedented bag of six Olympic table tennis gold medals.
But at the same time, we should also see that the foreign associations have made great strides in the men’s and women’s doubles events in recent years – in the rankings for the week in which 10 April 2025 falls, for example, the world No. 1s in both of the above events aren’t Chinese combinations, with the men’s doubles going to France’s Le Brun brothers and the women’s doubles to Japan’s Sazuki Oto/Sakura Yokoi. Although they were defeated by the Chinese pair in the WTT Singapore Grand Slam only not long ago, but last year is there to get the finals and the Asian Championships title, which can be seen in its strength.
So objectively speaking, the national ping in the men’s doubles, women’s doubles two projects although there is an advantage, but it is really not as obvious as the men’s and women’s groups, and if the associations are only allowed to send only a pair of combinations to participate in the doubles, who dares to guarantee that the Tokyo Olympics national ping mixed doubles lost the title of the situation will not be staged again?
In addition, the new reform is ‘not to increase the number of people’, the number of participants and the Paris Olympics, but the project has increased, which means that there is bound to be a large-scale concurrent situation, the most relaxed arrangement is at least two men and two women concurrently two, plus a man and a woman concurrently three, the extreme point of the case may appear a person concurrently four, which for all the This is a huge test for all athletes’ physical ability and energy arrangements, and may lead to more prominent injury problems during the preparation period, so we have to make sufficient preparation for the difficulties in the future.
Last but not least, the new reform is also far-reaching for the whole landscape of table tennis.
As we all know, table tennis has always had a tradition of valuing singles and belittling doubles, and the prize money for doubles winners in some tournaments is not even as much as that for singles round-trippers, which has led to many athletes eating it up and discarding it without much pity. Because of the limited commercialisation of table tennis, the best incentive for people to participate in doubles is the new Olympic gold medals, which can also be seen in the change of emphasis on mixed doubles in recent years.
Now that men’s doubles and women’s doubles have returned to the Olympic family again, the associations will certainly increase their investment in this area, and it is even entirely possible that there will be players who specialise in doubles, which will enable the competition in the world of bingo to be even more blossoming, and at the same time allow fans to feel the unique charm and excitement of different sports.
In addition, the addition of the mixed team gold medal will also give unprecedented importance to this new tournament system – before this, many strong teams in the foreign associations have little interest in the mixed team World Cup, such as the Japanese team last year, one of the core main force did not participate in the tournament, and all the second-tier players, which made the fans very disappointing. Now that this gold medal has been added to the Olympics, it is only natural that the associations will strengthen their training and preparation.
Through the combined training of mixed team and mixed doubles events, the communication between male and female players of each team will be closer, which is also in line with the concept of gender equality promoted by the Olympic Games in recent years.
To sum up, the reform of this Olympic Games is a new test for all associations, the national team can have the possibility of winning more gold medals, foreign associations can also have more opportunities to challenge the Chinese team than before, the uncertainty of the game has increased dramatically, but isn’t this kind of uncertainty the charm of competitive sports? Then let’s look forward to the arrival of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles!
