Table tennis
Boll’s Olympic dream: “I’m running out of time a bit”
Timo Boll really wants to go to the Olympic Games in Paris. photo
© David Inderlied/dpa
The Olympics in Paris – Timo Boll really wants to go there. But it won’t be as easy for the German table tennis star in the new year as it used to be.
To take part in the Olympic Games again at the age of 43 – that is the big goal of the German table tennis star Timo Boll for 2024. The record European champion from Borussia Düsseldorf has never won an individual Olympic medal in his long and successful career.
Boll’s only problem is that after a serious shoulder injury last year, unlike his previous six Olympic participations from Sydney 2000 to Tokyo 2021, he is no longer part of the German team. With Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Dang Qiu, Patrick Franziska and Benedikt Duda, the competition for two places in the individual and three in the team is very strong.
“The next two months are very important. That’s when the decision will be made as to who will play at the Olympics and who won’t. So I’m running out of time a bit,” Boll told the German Press Agency with a view to the new year. “But I still have a few tournaments left. And I have to perform there and show that I’m on the right track again. Because the internal competition is also playing well. So it won’t be easy.”
Important exams on the program
Boll’s schedule in the coming weeks includes the cup final tournament with Borussia Düsseldorf (January 7th), the Team World Cup in South Korea (February) and the first Grand Smash tournament of the year in Singapore (March). He wants to recommend himself for a place on the Olympic team.
“The shoulder is doing quite well again,” he said, referring to his injury break of several months last year. “I’ll say: I’m at 95 percent. And if you get to five percent, then all the work was worth it.”