Alright guys. Here is how I see things. There is a lot of unnecessary stuff from both sides.
Ma Long won. He won convincingly. Damn, he deserved it. He has worked so damned hard and waited so long for this moment. He is the World Champion, and the Olympic Champion. Part of that is that he trained, was seriously in shape and stayed healthy through the finals. Regardless of how you look at it, that is part of the story. Ma Long won and over the past several years he has been an amazing player. He has answered all those questions about his nerves and about the big tournaments. He beat ZJK head to head in the Olympic Gold Match.
Congratulations to him.
Zhang Jike was clearly struggling and as the match progressed had more and more trouble moving to his FH. But that does not change anything. When you win on the biggest stage, you win. When you don't, you don't. If his injuries were affecting him in the match, that is part of the reality of SPORT. The guy in better shape, who is physically stronger, on some level, has earned that through training.
Now China has two, great, Grand Slam winners in this decade. And we should show both of them respect. Nobody likes a sore loser. But nobody likes a sour grapes winner either.
These guys are both great champions. Ma Long fans do Ma Long a disservice by ridiculing ZJK fans when they are down. But ZJK fans also do ZJK a disservice by trying to find excuses for the loss or suggesting anything other than the fact that Ma Long in fact came through.
And think about it, nobody here will argue that Wang Liqin was great, a phenomenon, and an unbelievable, dominant force in the sport with 3 WTTC titles. But he never won a world cup or an Olympic Gold and nobody seems to fault him for that or think he was less of a player for it. And Ma Lin, everyone knows what a great player he was and he never won a WTTC title and only won 1 Olympic gold. Wang Hao, the guy was also great. We all know he was. But he only won one WTTC title.
Looking at the bigger picture, now I am looking forward to when Quadri Aruna, Vladimir Samsonov, Jung Young-sik and Jun Mizutani can take the CNT out of the top 3 spots.
The Olympic Singles event was great. And table tennis actually has something to look forward to. Okay, I know nobody is actually close to ending CNT dominance soon. But there was really so much more about this tournament than bitter banter between ML and ZJK fans.
Get over it. Zhang Jike is great. But right now, Ma Long's TIME HAS ARRIVED. Give it up for his amazing performance throughout the whole Olympic Singles Event. Celebrate the achievement and leave the rest behind.