Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Table tennis
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Table tennis ; at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	ExCeL London
Dates	28 July - 8 August 2012
Competitors	174 from 57 nations
	← 2008 2016 →

Last updated September 16, 2025

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]

Qualification

As 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

P	Preliminary rounds	¼	Quarterfinals	½	Semifinals	F	Final

Event↓/Date →	Sat 28	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

A total of 174 athletes (86 men and 88 women), representing 57 NOCs, competed in four events.^[6]

Medal summary

Medal table

Events

All events at the Games took the form of a knockout competition.

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's singles details	Zhang Jike China	Wang Hao China	Dimitrij Ovtcharov Germany
Men's team details	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 details	Li Xiaoxia China	Ding Ning China	Feng Tianwei Singapore
Women's team details	China (CHN) Ding Ning Li Xiaoxia Guo Yue	Japan (JPN) Ai Fukuhara Sayaka Hirano Kasumi Ishikawa	Singapore (SIN) Li Jiawei Feng Tianwei Wang Yuegu

References

↑ "Olympic Table Tennis Press Kit" (PDF). ITTF. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
1 2 "London 2012 Olympics: table tennis guide". The Telegraph. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
1 2 "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

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)

51°30′27″N0°01′47″E / 51.5075°N 0.0297°E / 51.5075; 0.0297

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[1] "Olympic Table Tennis Press Kit" (PDF). ITTF. Retrieved 21 July 2012.

[Telegraph-2] 1 2 "London 2012 Olympics: table tennis guide". The Telegraph. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

[ITTF-3] 1 2 "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.

[4] "Team GB take table tennis places for 2012 Olympics". BBC Sport. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

[BBC-5] "London 2012 Olympics qualifying: Table Tennis". BBC Sport. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

[6] "Athlete count for Table Tennis". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 October 2021.

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