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 Ma Lin in 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | 马琳 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Ma Lin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1980-02-19)19 February 1980 (age 45) Shenyang, China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 174 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Table tennis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing style | Chinese Penhold | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 1 (October 2002) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ma Lin (Chinese:马琳;pinyin:Mǎ Lín; born February 19, 1980) is a retired Chinesetable tennis player, Olympic champion, and the current Chinese Women's Team Head Coach.
Ma learned to play table tennis at age five and became a member of the provincial team in 1990. In 1994, he joined the Chinese national team. Ma is the only male player ever to win Olympic gold in Singles, Doubles and Team. He previously held a professional era record of 5 major titles (4World Cups and 1Olympic Gold), having won more World Cups than any other male table tennis player in history.[1]He has since been surpassed byMa Long, who has won 8 major titles.[2]He has won a total of 18 world championships in his career.
Since retiring in December 2013, Ma has been serving as the head coach of the Guangdong provincial table tennis team.[3] He became the head coach of the China National Women's Team in December 2022.
Ma uses thepenhold grip. An aggressive player, he is known for his converse unpredictable serves, heavy short push receives, fast footwork, and powerful third ball attacks. In addition to possessing a solid backhand block, Ma also uses the reverse penhold backhand (RPB), an innovative stroke utilizing the underside of the blade which allows a penholder to produce topspin from both wings. The most dangerous weapon Ma has in his arsenal, however, is his consistent forehand loop, which he often uses to end a point decisively. He is also considered a master at serving and his serve is considered one of the best in the world, earning the nickname "Ghost Service". It involves the ball bouncing back to the net instead of going straight off the table.
Because of this, Ma has claimed the titles "Maestro Ma Lin," "Defense Killer," and "Table Tennis Olympic Champion."
Ma is currently using a Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive Penhold as his blade. He uses DHS NEO Skyline 2 TG2 for his forehand andButterfly Bryce Speed FX for his backhand.
In theChina Table Tennis Super League, Ma played forBayi Gongshang,Shandong Luneng,Guangdong Gotone,Shaanxi Yinhe andNingbo Haitan. His transfer to Shaanxi Yinhe for over 5 million Chinese yuan was a league record. His next transfer was to Ningbo Haitan for just 1.3 million yuan (US$168,000), including 1 million yuan in salary.[4]Ma's training attitude was very serious, especially during the preparation for the Guangdong Ninth National Games. The training volume was large, and training times were long.Ma not only practiced hard to serve, but also practiced multiple balls back and forth, which requires a wide range of running. He practiced so hard that broke a pair of sneakers every week.[5] He has won four World Cup trophies (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006), more than any other player in history, but has lost three times in the World Championship finals (1999, 2005, 2007). Ma reached the finals three times, but finished as the runner up all three times. The first time, in the 1999 World Table Tennis Championships in Eindhoven, Ma defeatedSamsonov andWaldner to reach the final, where he facedLiu Guoliang. The two fought to a 2–2 draw, and Liu led 23–22 in the final game. Ma blocked and Liu won 24–22. The second time, in the 2005 Shanghai World Table Tennis Championships, in the men's singles final, Ma trailedWang Liqin 2–3 and 7–10 in the 6th game. Finally, Ma lost the match 7–11. The thirdtime, at the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb, Ma met Wang Liqin again in the final. Ma made full preparations, leading 3–1 and 7–1 in the fifth game. However, Wang made a comeback and once again defeated Ma.
At the2004 Olympics, coachCai Zhenhua said that Ma was the best of the three Chinese players. Surprisingly in the following round, Ma lost toWaldner. Ma was shocked, and the coaches suddenly had a big problem: there was no one protecting the bottom half of the draw. They were also worried about men's doubles, because one of their two pairs had been eliminated in the first round. If Ma could not adjust in time, with Chen Qi's inexperience, the last pair might also be eliminated. Under pressure, Ma and Chen won the next three rounds and gold for China. Ma / Chen played against Denmark'sMaze /Tugwell in the semifinals. Ma / Chen won the first game. In the second, they were ahead 10–6 and were caught up by the Danes, losing the game 11–13. After the score was tied at 2–2 in games, Ma / Chen fell behind 6–9 in game 5, but came back to win 13–11. In the finals, Ma / Chen played against Hong Kong'sKo Lai Chak /Li Ching. Despite losses in the third and fifth games, Ma / Chen won.
At the2008 Summer Olympics, Ma won the teams competition with his compatriotsWang Liqin andWang Hao. In the men's singles, Ma defeated KoreanOh Sang Eun in the quarterfinals (4–0) and Wang Liqin in the semifinals (4–2). Ma defeated Wang Hao (4–1) in the finals, improving to 15–10 head-to-head against Wang.[6]
Ma is considered to be the true Olympiad of table tennis, because he achieved all possible titles in the Olympics (Athens 2004 – Doubles Champion with Chen Qi, Beijing 2008 – Singles Champion, Team Events Champion). Ma was inducted into theITTF Hall of Fame in 2010.[7]
After retirement, Ma has been a coach for the Chinese national team. Since 2013, he has coached the Guangdong provincial team.[3] Ma was appointed as the head coach of the China National Women's Team from December 2022.
Ma's alleged girlfriend,Bai Yang, was dropped from Women's National Team in 2004. It is against the rules to date in the Chinese National Team for athletes under twenty years old. Ma went on to secretly marry actress Zhang Yi in late 2004.[8] They divorced in 2009. On this Ma stated, "Table tennis would be my wife forever. This will never change."[9] Ma married Zhang Yaqing in December 2013. On April 19, 2016, they had a son.[10]
In April 2024, aLeetCode profile became famous as it bore Ma's photo and description and was in the top 0.01% of LeetCode users.[11]Chinese journalists investigated this and discovered it has nothing to do with the famous tennis table athlete.[12]
(Doubles, withChen Qi) (Singles) (Team, withWang Liqin &Wang Hao) (Mixed Doubles, withZhang Yingying)), Runner-up
(Singles)(Team) (Team), Third
(Singles) (Mixed Doubles, withWang Nan), Third (Doubles, withQin Zhijian) (Team) (Singles), Third (Doubles, withChen Qi) (Team) (Doubles, withChen Qi), Runner-up (Singles), Runner-up (Mixed Doubles, withWang Nan) (Team) (Singles) (Team) (Doubles, withChen Qi) (Team) (Doubles, withHao Shuai) (Singles) (Singles) (Singles) (Singles) (Singles) (Team) (Team) (Doubles, withQin Zhijian) (Doubles, withKong Linghui) (Singles), Third (Doubles, withLiu Guozheng) (Singles) (Doubles, withKong Linghui)) (Doubles, withChen Qi) (Doubles, withChen Qi), Runner-up (Singles) (Doubles, withChen Qi), Third (Singles) (Singles), Runner-up (Doubles, withWang Hao) (Singles) (Doubles, withZhang Jike)Pro Tour Singles Winner (×20)
Pro Tour Doubles Winner (×37)
(Team), Third (Doubles & withKong Linghui), Third (Mixed Doubles & withLi Nan) (Team), Champion (Mixed Doubles, withWang Nan), Runner-up (Singles), Runner-up (Doubles, withChen Qi) (Team), Runner-up (Doubles, withXu Xin) (Mixed Doubles, withWu Na), Runner-up (Team), Third (Singles) (Team), Champion (Doubles, withLiu Guoliang) (Team), Third (Singles) (Team) (Singles) (Team), Runner-up (Singles) (Singles), Champion (Doubles, withLiu Guozheng) (Doubles, withZhangchao) (Team) (Team), Champion (Mixed Doubles, withSun Jin), Runner-up (Doubles, withQin Zhijian), Third (Singles) (Singles), Champion (Doubles, withQin Zhijian), Third (Mixed Doubles, withZhang Yingying) (Team), Champion (Mixed Doubles, withWang Nan), Third (Doubles, withChen Qi) (Singles), Champion (Doubles, withChen Qi), Champion (Mixed Doubles, withWang Nan) (Doubles, withWang Liqin) (Team), Third (Doubles, withZhang Jike) (Doubles, withWang Hao), Runner-up (Singles), Third (Team) (Doubles, withZhangchao)
