Jan-Ove Waldner, or "The Eternal Green Tree" as he is also called, can hardly walk on the street in China without being mobbed by table tennis-crazy fans after his six World Championship gold medals and Olympic gold medal in 1992.
Now the legend believes that Truls Möregårdh's status in the country will be changed for all eternity.
His status there has grown enormously. I mean, he beat the world number one. It's like, it's extremely rare for the Chinese to lose at an Olympic Games. It's only me, Erik Lindh, Jörgen Persson, and now Truls who have beaten the Chinese at an Olympic Games, so it's almost only Swedes who have beaten them. This is a bomb in China too, he says.
"Has earned respect"
The Olympic silver medalist made it all the way to the final and pressured world number four Fan Zhendong hard on Sunday. And a few days earlier, he sensationally knocked out world number one Wang Chuqin.
Waldner does not believe that it was the last time the Swede will beat the Chinese.
Since he does it at the Olympic Games, when they are at their most unbeatable, it's clear that he has earned respect. Once you've beaten a Chinese player, they have an incredible respect for you. And you could see it, Fan Zhendong was really tense in the beginning.
"At his peak"
24 years ago, the table tennis legend lost the Olympic final to Kong Linghui, so he knows exactly how Möregårdh feels.
If you get a microphone shoved in your face right after you've lost, it's clear that it's tough. But if you ask him now, he would be super pleased.
Back then, in 2000, "J-O" was at the end of his successful career. But Möregårdh, on the other hand, is just at the beginning of his and has, according to Waldner, many years in the absolute world elite ahead of him.
The game he showed in the final, I don't know if he can do much better. This was almost at his peak. I think he will stay among the top five in the world for at least the next ten years.
Age: 22 years
Born: Hovmantorp, Småland
Club: Eslöv AI BTK
World ranking: 26
Main merits: Olympic silver 2024, European Championship gold 2023 (team), World Championship silver 2021, European Championship bronze 2019 (team)
