Table Tennis
The United States qualified for the women's team competition, 3 places in women's singles, and 1 place in men's singles. Gao Jun and Wang Chen automatically qualified in women's singles by being in the top 20 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings. Yao "Crystal" Huang took the third and final North American women's spot by winning at the North American Trials in Vancouver, qualifying an American women's team in the process. David Zhuang secured the only American spot in men's singles at the North American Trials.
The entire American team was composed of Chinese-born athletes. This included Gao Jun, doubles silver medalist for China at the 1992 Olympics, who competed as an American for the third time. Although she failed to obtain a medal, Wang Chen became the first American player to advance to the quarter-finals in Olympic table tennis history after defeating 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Kyung-Ah. The fifth-place performance by the women's team was also the best finish for U.S in this sport.
- Singles
Athlete | Event | Preliminary round | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Rank | ||
David Zhuang | Men's singles | Toriola (NGR) L 3–4 |
Did not advance | |||||||
Gao Jun | Women's singles | Odorova (SVK) W 4–2 |
Hirano (JPN) W 4–1 |
Wu X (DOM) L 3–4 |
Did not advance | |||||
Crystal Huang | Yang F (CGO) L 2–4 |
Did not advance | ||||||||
Wang Chen | Tóth (HUN) W 4–1 |
Kim K-A (KOR) W 4–3 |
Li Jw (SIN) L 1–4 |
Did not advance |
- Team
Athlete | Event | Group round | Semifinals | Bronze playoff 1 | Bronze playoff 2 | Bronze medal | Final | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opposition Result |
Rank | Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Rank | ||
Gao Jun Crystal Huang Wang Chen |
Women's team | Group B Singapore (SIN) L 0 – 3 Netherlands (NED) W 3 – 1 Nigeria (NGR) W 3 – 0 |
2 | Did not advance | Romania (ROU) W 3 – 1 |
South Korea (KOR) L 0 – 3 |
Did not advance |
Read more about this topic: United States At The 2008 Summer Olympics
Famous quotes containing the words table and/or tennis:
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“[My one tennis book] was very, very old. It had a picture of Bill Tilden. I looked at the picture and that was how I learned to hold the racket.”
—Maria Bueno (b. 1939)