A good feeling: Timo Boll in a duel with a younger man (Saarbrücken, April 1, 2024)
Timo Boll received the news of what was supposed to be his last chance at the Olympics during his family vacation in the Austrian mountains. “Paris is once again a really big goal for me,” said the 43-year-old from Düsseldorf, as was to be expected, about his historic nomination: “Being there would make me proud and happy – because I know that it is based on performance and not will be decided on merit.”
It has been official since Tuesday that the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) is proposing the European Championship record winner as the third player for the team tournament. In France, Boll, European champion Dang Qiu and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov are expected to win their fifth Olympic medal in a row as a DTTB trio in the team competition.
The final nomination will be made by the German Olympic Sports Confederation at the beginning of May. Boll’s participation would make German sports history: Before the flag bearer of the 2016 Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro and four-time medalist, only Ralf Schumann (sport shooting; 1988-2012; 1984 qualified) and Ludger Beerbaum (jumping; 1988-2008, 2016) took part seven times for the 2016 Olympic team GDR and FRG took part in the summer games.
Boll, who made his first Olympic team in Sydney in 2000, “didn’t get the nomination for free.” After a long forced break last year due to a shoulder injury, the two-time World Cup bronze medalist fought his way back into the top 30 of the ITTF world rankings. In the team’s internal competition with Qiu, Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska – ranked 10th, 11th and 16th this week – Boll scored with several successes and is now ranked 27th. At the beginning of the year, the left-hander won an international tournament for the first time in three years: the WTT Contender Doha 2024.
National coach Jörg Roßkopf explained his decision to the sid with »experience, consistency and results of the past few months. You could always see that everyone still had great respect for Timo, which is also important for the Olympics.” During “my most difficult nomination as a coach,” he was convinced “that Timo was in better form and that we would send the best possible team to Paris,” the former world champion continued.
Boll, who will only be able to watch his colleagues Qiu and Ovtcharov in the individual competitions, wants to justify the trust. “The effort,” Boll told him sid shortly before the decision was announced, “it is now very high, but I feel that I have reached another level again. It’s a good feeling to be able to keep up with the boys.” It’s “always interesting to play against opponents who could be my children.”
