Timo Boll's Olympic dream is becoming a reality - his participation in the Games in Paris is official. With him, Germany is making sports history.
Munich – A German table tennis icon is heading for the last Olympic dance. For a long time, the Summer Games in Paris were just a distant dream for sports veteran Timo Boll. Since Tuesday (April 10th) it has been certain that he will start for Germany next summer. With his participation, the now 43-year-old is writing German sports history.
Boll's Olympic dream comes true
“Paris is once again a really big goal for me,” Boll was quoted as saying by
SID
after his official nomination by national coach Jörg Roßkopf . “Being there would make me proud and happy – because I know that decisions are made based on performance and not on merit.”
Unless an injury occurs, Boll will support the German Olympic team as the third player in the team tournament. In the individual competition, Germany will be represented by former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov and European champion Dang Qiu. The German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) decided on this on Tuesday.
Boll wants to extend his medal streak with Germany
The goal is also clear: Together with Ovtcharov and Qiu, Boll wants to lead Germany to its fifth Olympic medal in a row. At the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, Germany won the bronze medal in the team competition. In 2008 and 2021 it was enough for silver. From a German perspective, this series of medals should not come to an end at the Games in Paris (July 26th to August 11th), for which remaining tickets are still available.
Especially not when the German team has a table tennis legend like Boll in its squad. Only very few people would have believed that the Erbach native would make an Olympic comeback.
A persistent shoulder injury put Boll out of action for months
Boll has had a long ordeal behind him. Last year, a persistent shoulder injury forced him to take a month-long break. In the meantime he even fell out of the top 150 in the world rankings.
But after the long injury break, Boll fought back impressively and is now back in the top 30. In the spring he even won the international tournament of the WTT series in Doha for the first time in three years. Boll also recently made people sit up and take notice in the intra-team competition with Qiu, Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska and was able to set an exclamation mark with one or two wins against a top 20 player.
National coach Roßkopf justifies Boll's nomination for the Olympics
The decision to nominate Boll for the German Olympic squad was made based on the “experience, consistency and results of the past few months,” explained national coach Roßkopf to the
SID
. “You could always see that everyone still has great respect for Timo, which is also important for the Olympics.”
Boll is making German sports history by taking part in the 2024 Olympics
With his participation in the Olympic Games in Paris, Boll also joins the elite ranks of German record Olympic participants. So far, only two German athletes, Ralf Schumann (shooting/1988-2012) and Ludger Beerbaum (show jumping/1988-2008 and 2016), have taken part in a total of seven Olympics.
For Boll, his seventh Olympic nomination is not just a big dream come true. The standard bearer of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro would also make German sports history with his participation.
(kus)