Waldner sat at home in his TV sofa in Stockholm and followed the drama in the French capital when Truls Möregårdh knocked out Chinese world champion Wang Chuqin in the second round of the OS tournament with a 4-2 set score.
It's the biggest upset in OS history. It has to be. Think about what he (Wang Chuqin) has won, says J-O Waldner to TT.
"A bigger shock candy"
Erik Lindh knocked out Chinese world champion Jialiang Jiang in the OS quarterfinals in 1988 and Waldner himself knocked out Chinese player Ma Lin – then ranked second in the world – in the OS eighthfinals in 2004.
But then "Ekan" (Erik Lindh) was around sixth, seventh in the world and I had beaten Chinese players before. This was a bigger shock candy. A huge performance, says Waldner, who won OS gold in 1992 and took OS silver in 2000.
In addition, Möregårdh has had a tough year and is now ranked 26th in the world.
That he now gets it right in this match. Then you believe in yourself.
Before yesterday's super upset, the 22-year-old from Eslöv had only taken a set off Wang Chuqin. The Chinese player has won all eight previous meetings.
Everyone thought Wang Chuqin would win easily, but Truls is there to take the fight. He started with that directly instead of giving away two sets at the beginning. It doesn't work against players like that.
A narrow advantage for Möregårdh
Already tonight, the eighthfinals against Kao Cheng-Jui, Taiwan, who played his second match on Monday, await.
It's maybe better that Truls gets to go straight. Now he avoids a lot of press conferences where they say: "now you'll take the medal". Or: "can you take the gold now?". It's just as well that he gets to go straight now, says Waldner.
Chances of winning in the eighthfinals?
It's 60-40 in favor of Truls. This match is tougher than what can be expected later. If he wins again, I think he'll make it to a semifinal, says Waldner.
Corrected: In an earlier version, it was incorrectly stated how many times Truls Möregårdh and Wang Chuqin had played against each other.
