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Ma Lin
Ma Lin in 2013
Personal information
Native name马琳
Full nameMa Lin
Nationality China
Born (1980-02-19) 19 February 1980 (age 44)
Shenyang, China
Height174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Table tennis career
Playing styleChinese Penhold
Highest ranking1 (October 2002)
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 3 0 0
World Championships 9 7 4
World Cup 6 0 1
Total 18 7 5
Men's table tennis
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Singles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Team
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1999 Eindhoven Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2001 Osaka Team
Gold medal – first place 2003 Paris Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Doha Team
Gold medal – first place 2006 Bremen Team
Gold medal – first place 2007 Zagreb Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Guangzhou Team
Gold medal – first place 2010 Moscow Team
Gold medal – first place 2012 Dortmund Team
Silver medal – second place 1999 Eindhoven Singles
Silver medal – second place 2000 Kuala Lumpur Team
Silver medal – second place 2005 Shanghai Singles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Zagreb Singles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Zagreb Mixed Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2013 Paris Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2011 Rotterdam Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Osaka Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Paris Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Shanghai Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Yokohama Singles
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2000 Yangzhou Singles
Gold medal – first place 2003 Jiangyin Singles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Hangzhou Singles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Paris Singles
Gold medal – first place 2007 Magdeburg Team
Gold medal – first place 2011 Magdeburg Team
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Liége Singles
ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
Gold medal – first place 1999 Sydney Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2001 Hainan Singles
Gold medal – first place 2002 Stockholm Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2003 Guangzhou Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Beijing Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2007 Beijing Singles
Gold medal – first place 2011 London Doubles
Silver medal – second place 1998 Paris Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2004 Beijing Singles
Silver medal – second place 2006 Hong Kong Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Beijing Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Kobe Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Kobe Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Hong Kong Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Macau Singles
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2002 Busan Team
Gold medal – first place 2006 Doha Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Doha Team
Gold medal – first place 2010 Guangzhou Team
Silver medal – second place 2006 Doha Singles
Silver medal – second place 2006 Doha Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2010 Guangzhou Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Busan Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Busan Mixed Doubles
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 1996 Kallang Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 1998 Osaka Doubles
Gold medal – first place 1998 Osaka Team
Gold medal – first place 2000 Doha Team
Gold medal – first place 2007 Yangzhou Team
Silver medal – second place 1996 Kallang Team
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Kallang Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Doha Singles
Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place 1996 New Delhi Singles

Ma Lin (simplified Chinese: 马琳; traditional Chinese: 馬琳; pinyin: Mǎ Lín; born February 19, 1980) is a retired Chinese table tennis player, Olympic champion, and the current Chinese Women's Team Head Coach.

Ma learned to play table tennis at age five and became a member of the provincial team in 1990. In 1994, he joined the Chinese national team. Ma is the only male player ever to win Olympic gold in Singles, Doubles and Team. He previously held a professional era record of 5 major titles (4 World Cups and 1 Olympic Gold), having won more World Cups than any other male table tennis player in history.[1] He has since been surpassed by Ma Long, who has won 7 major titles.[2] He has won a total of 18 world championships in his career.

Since retiring in December 2013, Ma has been serving as the head coach of the Guangdong provincial table tennis team.[3] He became the head coach of the China National Women's Team in December 2022.

Style and equipment

[edit]

Ma uses the penhold grip. An aggressive player, he is known for his converse unpredictable serves, heavy short push receives, fast footwork, and powerful third ball attacks. In addition to possessing a solid backhand block, Ma also uses the reverse penhold backhand (RPB), an innovative stroke utilizing the underside of the blade which allows a penholder to produce topspin from both wings. The most dangerous weapon Ma has in his arsenal, however, is his consistent forehand loop, which he often uses to end a point decisively. He is also considered a master at serving and his serve is considered one of the best in the world, earning the nickname "Ghost Service". It involves the ball bouncing back to the net instead of going straight off the table.

Because of this, Ma has claimed the titles "Maestro Ma Lin," "Defense Killer," and "Table Tennis Olympic Champion."

Ma is currently using a Yasaka Ma Long Extra Offensive Penhold as his blade. He uses DHS NEO Skyline 2 TG2 for his forehand and Butterfly Bryce Speed FX for his backhand.

Career

[edit]
Ma Lin at the 2012 Qatar Open

In the China Table Tennis Super League, Ma played for Bayi Gongshang, Shandong Luneng, Guangdong Gotone, Shaanxi Yinhe and Ningbo Haitan. His transfer to Shaanxi Yinhe for over 5 million Chinese yuan was a league record. His next transfer was to Ningbo Haitan for just 1.3 million yuan (US$168,000), including 1 million yuan in salary.[4] Ma's training attitude was very serious, especially during the preparation for the Guangdong Ninth National Games. The training volume was large, and training times were long. Ma not only practiced hard to serve, but also practiced multiple balls back and forth, which requires a wide range of running. He practiced so hard that broke a pair of sneakers every week.[5] He has won four World Cup trophies (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006), more than any other player in history, but has lost three times in the World Championship finals (1999, 2005, 2007). Ma reached the finals three times, but finished as the runner up all three times. The first time, in the 1999 World Table Tennis Championships in Eindhoven, Ma defeated Samsonov and Waldner to reach the final, where he faced Liu Guoliang. The two fought to a 2–2 draw, and Liu led 23–22 in the final game. Ma blocked and Liu won 24–22. The second time, in the 2005 Shanghai World Table Tennis Championships, in the men's singles final, Ma trailed Wang Liqin 2–3 and 7–10 in the 6th game. Finally, Ma lost the match 7–11. The thirdtime, at the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb, Ma met Wang Liqin again in the final. Ma made full preparations, leading 3–1 and 7–1 in the fifth game. However, Wang made a comeback and once again defeated Ma.

At the 2004 Olympics, coach Cai Zhenhua said that Ma was the best of the three Chinese players. Surprisingly in the following round, Ma lost to Waldner. Ma was shocked, and the coaches suddenly had a big problem: there was no one protecting the bottom half of the draw. They were also worried about men's doubles, because one of their two pairs had been eliminated in the first round. If Ma could not adjust in time, with Chen Qi's inexperience, the last pair might also be eliminated. Under pressure, Ma and Chen won the next three rounds and gold for China. Ma / Chen played against Denmark's Maze / Tugwell in the semifinals. Ma / Chen won the first game. In the second, they were ahead 10–6 and were caught up by the Danes, losing the game 11–13. After the score was tied at 2–2 in games, Ma / Chen fell behind 6–9 in game 5, but came back to win 13–11. In the finals, Ma / Chen played against Hong Kong's Ko Lai Chak / Li Ching. Despite losses in the third and fifth games, Ma / Chen won.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Ma won the teams competition with his compatriots Wang Liqin and Wang Hao. In the men's singles, Ma defeated Korean Oh Sang Eun in the quarterfinals (4–0) and Wang Liqin in the semifinals (4–2). Ma defeated Wang Hao (4–1) in the finals, improving to 15–10 head-to-head against Wang.[6]

Ma is considered to be the true Olympiad of table tennis, because he achieved all possible titles in the Olympics (Athens 2004 – Doubles Champion with Chen Qi, Beijing 2008 – Singles Champion, Team Events Champion). Ma was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame in 2010.[7]

Coaching career

[edit]

After retirement, Ma has been a coach for the Chinese national team. Since 2013, he has coached the Guangdong provincial team.[3] Ma was appointed as the head coach of the China National Women's Team from December 2022.

Personal life

[edit]

Ma's alleged girlfriend, Bai Yang, was dropped from Women's National Team in 2004. It is against the rules to date in the Chinese National Team for athletes under twenty years old. Ma went on to secretly marry actress Zhang Yi in late 2004.[8] They divorced in 2009. On this Ma stated, "Table tennis would be my wife forever. This will never change."[9] Ma married Zhang Yaqing in December 2013. On April 19, 2016, they had a son.[10]

Anecdotes

[edit]

In April 2024, a LeetCode profile became famous as it bore Ma's photo and description and was in the top 0.01% of LeetCode users.[11] Chinese journalists investigated this and discovered it has nothing to do with the famous tennis table athlete.[12]

Achievements

[edit]

Olympic Games:

World Championships:

World Cup:

Pro Tour Grand Finals:

Pro Tour Singles Winner (×20)

Pro Tour Doubles Winner (×37)

Asian Games:

Asian Championships:

Asian Cup:

National games:

National Championships:

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ma Lin". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
  2. ^ Gurung, Pratima (2021-11-02). "Ma Long Bio | Career, Threats & Net Worth [2022 Update]". Players Bio. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  3. ^ a b Ma Lin: The Future Coach Of Guangdong Team. Tabletennista.com (2013-09-20). Retrieved on 2016-06-17.
  4. ^ Ping-pong League Ready to Bounce Back. English.cri.cn. Retrieved on 2016-06-17.
  5. ^ Draper, Riley (2021-05-06). "Ma Lin's Equipment, Stats, Height, Net Worth & More". Table Tennis-Sport. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  6. ^ "Ma Lin wins Olympic men's table tennis singles gold". ChinaDaily. 2008-08-23. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  7. ^ "ITTF Hall of Fame" (PDF). ittf.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-08-09.
  8. ^ "Dismissal of Ping-Pong players stirs up controversy". En.people.cn. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Ma Lin: Table Tennis is My Wife! (VIDEOS)". Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ^ "Ma Lin is Now a Father". Archived from the original on 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  11. ^ "Ma Lin – Leetcode Profile".
  12. ^ "Journalist on Ma Lin Leetcode (chinese)".
[edit]
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