Table Tennis Olympics Guide to Paris 2024

Key points from the infographic

• Table tennis at Paris 2024 had five events and five gold medals: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s team, and mixed doubles.
• The competition ran from Saturday 27 July to Saturday 10 August 2024 at Paris Expo, South Paris Arena 4, a 20,000 square metre hall seating 6,500 spectators.
• Singles and mixed doubles matches are best of 7 games and team ties best of 5 matches; games go to 11 points and must be won by 2.
• The graphic was made before the Games. China went on to win all five gold medals, as it was seeded to do [2][3].
• Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since the Seoul Games in 1988 [4][5].

Olympic table tennis infographic in text

Title: Olympic Table Tennis, with the Paris 2024 emblem and Olympic rings, and an illustration of two players at a table.

Events. There are 5 events, with 5 Gold Medals up for grabs: Men’s Singles, Men’s Team, Mixed Doubles, Women’s Singles and Women’s Team. Paddle icons show one player per singles entry, two for mixed doubles and three for each team. A Pictogram panel shows the Paris 2024 table tennis pictogram.

Schedule. A grid from Sat 27 July to Sat 10 August with coloured dots. Legend: P Preliminary Round, K Knockout Rounds (64, 32, 16), 1/4 Quarter Finals, 1/2 Semi Finals, F Finals.

Top Seeds. Based on World Rankings 07/16/2024. A maximum of 2 entries per nation are permitted in singles, with 1 entry per nation in Team / Doubles.

Match Format. The Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, and Mixed Doubles are all played in a ‘best of 7’ format (first to 4 games). The Team events are played in a shorter ‘best of 5’ format. Games are played in a ‘first to 11’ format with players needing to win by 2 clear points. 2 serves each until 10-10 when it’s 1 serve each. Team matches consist of a doubles match followed by 4 singles matches (shown as BC vs YZ, A vs X, C vs Z, A vs Y, B vs X). Matches are played until one team wins 3 matches.

Serving. Players must throw the ball up vertically at least 16 cm (around 6 inches) without imparting any spin onto the ball. The ball must be struck whilst falling down, above and behind the end line of the table. At no point can the ball be obscured from the opponent’s eye-line, including by a hand or clothing. The ball must hit the server’s side of the table before hitting the opponent’s side, anywhere on the table (in singles) or diagonally across (in doubles).

The Venue. Location: Paris Expo Complex. Name: Paris South Arena #4. Size: 20,000 m² hall. Capacity: 6,500 spectators. Photo credit: Paris 2024/Viparis.

The Table. Based on the DHS Rainbow 2 table, with unique pink-purple colours, 3D Olympic rings and a remote controlled lighting system.

Tokyo 2020 Results. Men’s Singles: Ma Long. Women’s Singles: Chen Meng. Mixed Doubles: Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani. Men’s Team: China. Women’s Team: China.

Did You Know? The ball weighs 2.7 grams, is made of ABS plastic, has a 40 mm diameter and reaches speeds of over 100 km/h.

Footer. RacketInsight logo. Sources listed: ITTF Paris 2024 tournament page, Olympics.com pictograms page, an ITTF document, a Guinness World Records page on the fastest table tennis hit, and RacketInsight’s Olympic stats and records page.

How Paris 2024 turned out

The tournament ran from 27 July to 10 August at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, and Chinese players won all five gold medals [3]. RacketInsight’s medal table notes that Sweden took two silver medals, including the men’s team final against China, and that host nation France won two bronze medals, its best table tennis haul [2]. RacketInsight also reports that 21,513 points were played across 1,175 games in 172 matches, and that Ma Long, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Fan Zhendong finished with unbeaten match records [4].

The match formats on the graphic were used as described: best of 7 games in the singles and mixed doubles, best of 5 in the team events, with a team winning on reaching 3 match wins [4].

Table tennis at the Olympics since 1988

Table tennis first appeared at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, with singles and doubles events for men and women [4][5]. Men’s and women’s doubles were later replaced by team events, and mixed doubles was added for Tokyo 2020 [4][5]. Games were played to 21 points until 2001 and to 11 points from the Athens Games in 2004 [4]. China has dominated the sport: by Wikipedia’s count, Chinese players won 37 of the 42 gold medals up to and including Paris 2024 [5].

For Los Angeles 2028, the LA28 organisers list men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles and a mixed team event, at LA Convention Center Hall 3 [6].

Notes on this infographic

• Pre-Games graphic. RacketInsight published it on 27 July 2024, the first day of competition [1]. The seeds are from the 16 July 2024 world rankings and are not results.
• Venue name. The graphic calls the hall Paris South Arena #4 at the Paris Expo Complex. Wikipedia names it South Paris Arena 4 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles [3]; both refer to the same hall.
• Ball facts. The ball weight, diameter, material and speed are as printed on the graphic, which cites ITTF and Guinness World Records pages that we did not open.
• Spelling. The serving text prints “servers side” and “opponents side” without apostrophes; they are added above.

Questions about table tennis at the Olympics

When did table tennis become an Olympic sport?

In 1988, at the Seoul Olympics [4][5]. Paris 2024 was its eleventh Olympic Games.

Is table tennis in the 2028 Olympics?

Yes. LA28 lists table tennis for Los Angeles 2028, with men’s and women’s singles and doubles, mixed doubles and a mixed team event [6].

Sources

1. RacketInsight (David Bruce), Paris 2024 Table Tennis Olympic Infographic (27 July 2024).
2. RacketInsight, Paris 2024 table tennis medal table.
3. Wikipedia, Table tennis at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
4. RacketInsight, Olympic table tennis stats and records.
5. Wikipedia, Table tennis at the Summer Olympics.
6. LA28, Table Tennis.

Last reviewed 30 October 2026