Women’s singles champion Sun Yingsha (left) and men’s singles champion Wang Chuqin pose for a selfie at the World Table Tennis Champions Chongqing on March 16, 2025. Chinese players won gold and silver medals in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Photo: VCG The inclusion of mixed team table tennis events at the Los Angeles […]
Women’s singles champion Sun Yingsha (left) and men’s singles champion Wang Chuqin pose for a selfie at the World Table Tennis Champions Chongqing on March 16, 2025. Chinese players won gold and silver medals in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Photo: VCG
The inclusion of mixed team table tennis events at the Los Angeles Olympics became a trending topic on social media on Thursday after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the event program for the 2028 Games.
To further strengthen gender equality for the Olympics, the IOC announced changes to the Olympic sports, including the inclusion of mixed events in archery, gymnastics, rowing and table tennis.
“For the first time in history, all team sports will have at least the same number of women’s teams as men’s teams,” the IOC said in a statement.
Along with the inclusion of mixed team event, the Los Angeles Games will also see the return of men’s and women’s doubles, making up a total of six gold medals to compete.
Wang Dazhao, a Beijing-based sports commentator, noted to the Global Times that the new discipline might put more pressure on the participating athletes.
“Although the organizers will strive not to increase the burden on athletes, in reality, both in terms of preparation for competitions and the scheduling of competitions, athletes and teams will definitely face more hardships and need to make corresponding adjustments,” Wang told the Global Times.
Zhang Bin, another Beijing-based sports commentator, echoed Wang’s idea of extra pressure being put on athletes.
“Participating in multiple events places a great deal of pressure on athletes both physically and mentally. With each additional event they take part in, the pressure increases,” Zhang told the Global Times.
“It is indeed possible for star players like Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin to win four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. However, we should also view this rationally. Athletes are living and breathing individuals, not medal-winning machines that can maintain a perfect state all the time.”
Wang said that whether the newly added event could be retained continuously depends on whether it can attract the attention of the audience and whether world records created in that event can be widely recognized and have a practical impact.
“Overall, the establishment of the table tennis mixed team event this time is a direction worth exploring. However, as to what the final effect will be, it will require further evaluation after the 2028 Olympics,” Wang said.
The Chinese team is the most decorated team in table tennis at the Olympic Games as it has won a total of 66 medals (37 gold medals, 21 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals). At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team swept all five gold medals.
Table tennis made its Olympics debut at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, with four events set up: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, and women’s doubles.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the men’s and women’s team events replaced the men’s and women’s doubles events. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the mixed doubles event made its first appearance.
In 2021, the Swedish Table Tennis Association proposed the mixed team event for the first time at the ITTF Congress, advocating gender equality, as well as the spirit of cooperation and unity.
Petra Sorling, president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), said that the decision of the Executive Board of the IOC is based on the vigorous development momentum of table tennis and also proves its growing global influence.
The ITTF has long been convinced of the potential of the mixed team event.
In December 2023, the maiden Table Tennis Mixed Team World Cup was held in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. In the two editions of the Mixed Team World Cup that have been held so far, the Chinese team has won the championship both times.
Since 1996, the Chinese team has achieved the feat of sweeping all the gold medals in all table tennis events six times in 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2024.
Chinese table tennis veteran Ma Long is the table tennis player who has won the most Olympic gold medals with six gold medals, including two consecutive gold medals in the singles event and four gold medals in the team events.
The IOC said that 24 out of 31 Olympic international sports federations had put forward a request for a change in their event program from Paris 2024.
In total, 772 additional quota places were requested for the initial sport and event program of 10,500 athletes.
