The Daily Populous Saturday August 3rd, 2024 morning edition
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ThisIsGettinWeirdNow on August 2nd, 2024 at 15:23 UTC »

So it’s always been China vs China for 16 years now?

Sammydaws97 on August 2nd, 2024 at 17:46 UTC »

This is wrong. He is the first non-Chinese Olympian to make the table tennis men’s single final in 20 years (2004 being the last time this happened)

What I think is more impressive, is that he is the first non-asian finalist since the 2000, and only the 3rd non-asian finalist EVER.

Severe-Emu-8703 on August 2nd, 2024 at 18:10 UTC »

Truls’ run through these Olympics have been insane, and no one saw it coming.

He’s ranked 26 in the world (though he is better than his ranking), and was matched up with the #1 player in the world for the round of 16, Wang Chaqin, a player he’d never come close to beating before. He then proceeds to win the match 4-2, to the surprise of absolutely everybody including himself.

He then rolls through the round of 8 and quarter finals, finishing the last set of the quarter finals by taking 8 straight points before allowing his opponent, Omar Assar’s, first in truly dominant fashion.

He faced Hugo Calderano in the semis, who’s ranked #6 and favoured to win - Calderano is also the first non-Eurasian to reach the semis which is a huge accomplishment in itself. Truls was down 10-4 in the first set, but proceeds to lock in mentally and flip that set to a win by scoring 10 straight points, eventually winning the match despite the shaky start.

He’s walked straight into the Swedish peoples’ hearts and is playing out of his mind. He probably won’t win gold, but we also didn’t expect him to be here at all so anything can happen. What he’s done is nothing short of extraordinary and he deserves all the praise he can get