Last summer, Sweden's table tennis men - Truls Möregårdh, Anton Källberg, and Kristian Karlsson - took a surprising silver in Paris in the team event after losing the final against giant China.
Now, the team events for men and women are being eliminated - instead, a mixed team event will be introduced at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028. Additionally, the doubles tournaments for both genders will be reintroduced.
It's extremely positive. More opportunities for medals. For us in Sweden, it's good classes where we are very successful, says the association's sports manager Daniel Ellermann.
"It's sad"
But isn't it sad that the men's team won't be able to defend their silver from Paris?
Of course, it's sad not to be able to defend it. But the more medal events there are, the better. We have good chances even in mixed teams.
The team events have been on the Olympic program since the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. They were introduced at the expense of the men's and women's doubles tournaments, which had been on the Olympic schedule together with the singles tournaments since their debut in Seoul 1988.
In Los Angeles, the mixed doubles will also remain - the class made its debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. In total, there will be six medal events in the USA in just over three years.
It's clear that there will be more medal opportunities for Sweden, and investments will be made to a greater extent on men's and women's doubles since they will be Olympic classes.
Exactly how a mixed team event at the Olympic Games will be set up is unclear at present.
I'm just speculating, but it's not impossible that it would be two guys and two girls in each team. Three plus three players feels unreasonable. Then the matches would be very long, says Ellermann, who also believes that there will be two singles per gender and one mixed doubles in each team match.
"World Champion Pairs"
It's also unclear how large the teams each country will be allowed to send.
Speculatively, we have a World Champion pair in Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Falck (2021). Right now, Anton Källberg and Truls Möregårdh are higher up on the singles ranking and then maybe more relevant for the team event and singles. But we don't know the game forms yet, says Ellermann.
Linda Bergström and Stina Källberg are also a sharp doubles pair.
We have three doubles pairs that are in the world top, says Daniel Ellermann.
Table tennis was included in the Olympic program in South Korean Seoul 1988. Then, singles and doubles tournaments were played for both men and women.
At the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, the doubles tournaments were removed and replaced with team events for each gender. In the two most recent Olympic Games - Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 - mixed doubles have also been a class.
On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee announced that the team events will be eliminated and replaced with a mixed team event. Additionally, the doubles tournaments for both genders will be reintroduced.
Within table tennis, two World Cup tournaments for mixed teams have been decided - 2023 and 2024. Both times in Chinese Chengdu.
