On May 15, after the Chinese Table Tennis Association announced the lineup of the National Table Tennis Paris Olympic Games, after a day of hustle and bustle, everything slowly calmed down. Fan Zhendong's name slip quietly climbed to the hot search, because when he forwarded the list of national table tennis participants in the Paris Olympics released by the Olympic Games, he attached the words "Last dance", which also caused heated discussions.
Fan Zhendong, who was born in January 1997, became famous at a young age, won the team at the 2014 World Table Tennis Championships, and became the youngest world champion in the history of the national table tennis men's team at the age of 17 years and 103 days; In 2016, he won the men's singles World Cup, becoming the youngest singles champion in the history of the World Cup, and then reached the top three times, holding four singles World Cup titles; In April 2018, he topped the men's singles world No. 1 for the first time; won one gold and one silver at the Tokyo Olympics; He won the men's singles championship at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston and the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban. From the men's singles P card at the Rio Olympics to the upcoming second Olympic Games, Fan Zhendong will attack the Grand Slam in Paris. He will play in the men's singles competition with Wang Chuqin, and fight side by side with Wang Chuqin and Ma Long in the men's team competition.
After the Chinese Table Tennis Association announced the list of national table tennis for the Paris Olympics, the Olympic Games released relevant news, and Fan Zhendong forwarded his message, but attached the words "Last dance", and also attached three emojis: cheering, table tennis and going all out. Fan Zhendong's "last dance" also sparked heated discussions, and some people speculated that he had the idea of retiring? Although the 27-year-old Fan Zhendong is not the "golden age" in the traditional sense, with the continuous improvement of training methods and rehabilitation treatment methods, Fan Zhendong is still in his playing year and is fully capable of persevering until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
It is undeniable that Fan Zhendong is also plagued by injuries now, and his competitive form this year is not good, Singapore Grand Slam lost to Lin Shidong and missed the quarterfinals, Incheon Championship lost to Brazil's Hugo missed the final, Macau Singles World Cup lost to Lin Gaoyuan missed the semifinals, Saudi Arabia lost to Germany's Francesca missed the quarterfinals, and even applied for a medical timeout in the Macau Singles World Cup, which was rare in Fan Zhendong's previous competitive career. Maybe it was a series of losses, or maybe it was the injury situation that could not recover to the state he imagined, Fan Zhendong wrote the words "Last dance" for the Paris Olympics.
But who says the future? The 34-year-old said in Rio that it could be his last Olympics, not only winning the men's singles and men's team titles in Tokyo, but now he is about to set foot in Paris for his fourth Olympic journey and challenge for his sixth Olympic gold medal. Today's Fan Zhendong seems to be a bit like Ma Long in the Rio Olympic cycle, but as long as he can maintain a high competitive state, with Fan Zhendong's ability and overall strength, at present, the national table tennis men's team without young players will need him for a long time in the future, so why not Fan Zhendong insist until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?