Jan-Ove Waldner

Jan-Ove Waldner

 (3 October 1965, Two times world champion 1986 & 1997) is a Swedish 47 years old table tennis player. In the 1990s he was more recognized in China than Bill Clinton. He is known as "the Mozart of table tennis" and is a legend in his native Sweden as well as in China. In China he is known as 老瓦 Lao Wa - "Old Wa" or 常青树 Chang Qing Shu - "Evergreen".

As of 2012, Waldner has been playing international elite level table tennis for 30 years, which is unusual in the table tennis world where hand-eye coordination and quick reactions are essential factors. Some young Chinese players that he has recently played against are trained by those he played against in the 1990s, who were in turn trained by others he played against in the 1980s.

He is one of four male players in the history of table tennis to achieve a career grand slam (World Champion and World Cup winner in singles, Olympic gold medal in singles) (in 1992).

His career ended (in 2012) at the international elite level, at the age of 46 years.