Felix Lebrun was born to create the unimaginable.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov has no more chance of winning his third Olympic individual medal. The table tennis professional loses to France's prodigy Lebrun after a great fight. The match is a huge spectacle with wild twists on both sides.
Once again, Dimitrij Ovtcharov is the protagonist in a big Olympic table tennis spectacle, and once again, he is the defeated one. Three years after his incredible semi-final loss against Chinese legend Ma Long - one of the best duels this sport has ever seen - the German star loses in Paris to French prodigy Felix Lebrun in seven dramatic sets. Ovtcharov is down 0:3 in sets, comes back to level the score, but ultimately loses to the 17-year-old playing unrestrained.
When it was all over, after more than an hour, with Ovtcharov defeated, he sat next to coach Jörg Roßkopf and didn't seem as disappointed as he could have been, given the absurd course of the match. After all, the 35-year-old had lost to a kid who seems born to dominate table tennis for years to come, to break the absurd dominance of the Chinese. Since 2008, they have won every Olympic men's singles gold medal and 32 out of 37 gold medals in total. Lebrun is already the best player in the world rankings who is not from China.
"Some tension dropped after the first three sets," Ovtcharov said later. "I was so focused, it was loud, but it was nice, it didn't distract me," he said about the deafening atmosphere. "Now I'm very, very sad. I wanted to win another medal, it didn't work out, I'm very disappointed." Coach Jörg Roßkopf praised the opponent. "That was a world-class game at a very high level. Felix held up under pressure." But his protégé also had "his chances," and there were quite a few. "In the seventh set, he had a bad start, then Felix's lead was too big."
Huge Hype Around the Prodigy
In France, Lebrun, who has a highly talented brother Alexis (20), has sparked a massive boom. There have been up to 10,000 new registrations in clubs. Some seem to have forgotten when and where they should train. Hall capacities are reached. The hype around this exceptional talent, who started playing table tennis at the age of three, is enormous. He is already being compared to football superstar Kylian Mbappé. That seems a bit much. But as proof of the blonde boy's appeal, legend Zinedine Zidane was in attendance. A knight's move. Lebrun comes from a table tennis dynasty. His father and uncle played, his uncle was even 14th in the world rankings. A teammate of his father is the one from whom Lebrun learned the penholder grip. This grip, where the thumb and index finger hold the racket handle, and the other fingers are supporting on the other side of the racket, is rather untypical in Europe.
Lebrun started with a crazy pace in the match. It happened just as Ovtcharov had feared. "He's always very strong at the beginning of the game because he plays so variably. Opponents have a hard time getting into the game. It will be crucial to start well. If I manage that, then I'm in good spirits." The audience would be like a wall behind him. "The hall will shake like I've never experienced before," Ovtcharov had said beforehand: "I have a lot of experience, I think I'll be able to handle it." But he didn't quite manage it at first. Lebrun bombarded Ovtcharov with spectacular serves and returns. Lebrun was playing at an incredible level, and with every magical shot, the hall shook a little more. The 17-year-old pushed himself, and these energy waves rode wildly through the arena.
It wasn't that Ovtcharov had nothing to offer, he tried everything, played at an impressive level, but he kept getting put under pressure. Lebrun barely moves off the table, goes aggressively for every ball. That wears down the opponent, especially when the Frenchman hits everything. That was the case in the early rounds. How well Ovtcharov held up was shown in the second round. He defended five chances for Lebrun to win the set, but the table tennis teenager also countered two chances from the German. When Lebrun had won the third set, as Ovtcharov helplessly walked to the bench, the audience sang the Marseillaise. What a gigantic party. But the 35-year-old suddenly crashed it.
A monster rally decides the match
Suddenly, Lebrun lost his lightness, his sovereignty, his aggressiveness. You can't grasp, can't define the moment of tipping. But the German kept going. He came into the offensive, had an outstanding length in his balls, and played aggressive counters. The Frenchman struggled, doubted. An outstanding forehand from Ovtcharov slammed cross over the table and around Lebrun's ears. The miracle was possible. Long before, a second small Tokyo moment had arrived. An incredible table tennis game, on a day when the impossible became possible. Earlier, the Swede Truls Moregardh had thrown the world number one Wang Chuqin out of the tournament with magical table tennis. Tokyo Olympic champion Fan Zhendong is now the last Chinese in the tournament, he could meet Lebrun in the semi-finals.
Then the seventh set, the momentum is clearly with Ovtcharov. But suddenly Lebrun is back, comes in well and leads 3:1. It stays close, both players go aggressively on the balls. The decision falls in the eighth ball exchange. A crazy rally ends with the point win for Lebrun. Over the forehand, he lets it crash, Ovtcharov holds with the backhand. The ball flies back and forth. The pace is absurd, full throttle, no more tactics. At 7:4, again the point goes to the Frenchman, it's hardly less spectacular, the hall roars, Lebrun trembles and wins. Ovtcharov, on the other hand, misses his target of another individual medal. In 2012 in London and 2021 in Tokyo, he had each won bronze, with the team he won four more Olympic medals - two silver and two bronze. With the team, he now wants to play for a medal. His perhaps last one?
Despite demonstrating impressive resilience, managing to level the score after being 0:3 down, Ovtcharov ultimately falls short in his bid for a third Olympic individual medal, losing to the rising star Felix Lebrun in a thrilling seven-set match.
Lebrun's meteoric rise in table tennis, as evident in his victories against top players like Ovtcharov, has sparked significant excitement in France, leading to an influx of new registrations in clubs and high levels of public interest.
