On October 20, Ma Long's 34th birthday was celebrated.
Just the night before his birthday, he defeated Japanese teenager Yukiya Uda 3-1 on his debut at the WWT Championship in Macau, a victory that was undoubtedly the best gift for his 34-year-old.
Since learning table tennis at the age of 5, Ma Long has walked for 29 years on the road of table tennis, and now at the age of 34, he still stands in front of the table tennis table he loves.
Looking back 12 years before the London Olympics, Ma Long had not won any singles world titles, and with a record of 56 consecutive victories and determination, he appeared on the team stage of the London Olympics. During the match, whether it was in the face of emotional fluctuations in the doubles loss or the entanglement with his fierce rival Ochalov, he passed one by one and stepped to a new level.
In his first world competition after the London Olympics, Malone experienced a rebirth from losing the World Cup group stage to reaching the knockout rounds, winning his first singles world title. The champion was like breaking a layer of window paper, thus opening his path to the Grand Slam.
In 2015, he was called "the year of Ma Long" by Liu Guoliang, he won the World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, led the team to the top of the Table Tennis Super League, and won the World Cup and finals one after another. Ten years of grinding a sword, from 2006 on the stage of the World Table Tennis Championships, to 15 years to lift his first St. Brad Cup, he finally got his wish.
Ma Long of the Rio cycle is the firm core of Chinese men's table tennis, and he is also a well-deserved national table tennis captain, during which he led the team to win the team championships of the World Table Tennis Championships, the World Cup, and the Olympic Games, and was named a "hexagonal warrior" by fans.
And in the Tokyo cycle, he is still fighting on the table due to injuries. At the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, he won the singles championship again with a shot in the knee closed. Before the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, he had repeated injuries, used various means for treatment, and also experienced many withdrawals, after tempering, finally lifted the St. Brad Cup for the third time, achieving three consecutive World Table Tennis Championships men's singles championships, equaling the record set by his predecessor Zhuang Zedong.
Later, he chose to have knee surgery, returned to the table and lost several consecutive matches, and finally broke through in 2020, winning two titles in the finals and WTT Macau. This is not only a victory for him, but also a "transformation" that he must go through before he steps to the top and sets a new record in history.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Ma Long once again stood on the podium of the Olympic men's singles champion, becoming the first player in the history of table tennis to win the Olympic men's singles championship for a second time, and also achieved a double-circle Grand Slam.
After the Tokyo Olympics and the National Games, Malone went through a six-month adjustment period, and most people thought that he would choose to start a new life, but he said: "I like to play and I want to continue to play". "Don't ask the end, go all out," he said, and did so.
Eleven days ago, Ma Long led the team to play with his teammates, defeated the German team 3-0, achieved the World Table Tennis Championships men's team ten consecutive championships, lifted the Swaythling Cup, and was another gold medal in his 19-year national team player career. So far, he has won a total of 5 Olympic championships and 27 world championships for the Chinese table tennis team and himself, becoming the athlete with the largest number of world champions in the world table tennis world, and the first person in the table tennis world worthy of the name.
And today, he still stands in front of the table, lifting the racket again and again, throwing and hitting the ball, the 34-year-old "youngster" Malone, and there are endless possibilities to create a new history.