Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Дмитро Овчаров
Ovtcharov at the 2008 Olympics
Nationality	Germany
Residence	Düsseldorf, Germany Hamelin, Germany
Born	(1988-09-02) 2 September 1988 (age 28) Kiev, Ukraine
Playing style	Right-handed, shakehand grip
Highest ranking	4 (April 2014)
Current ranking	5 (February 2017)
Club	GAZPROM Fakel Orenburg (Russia)
Height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)

Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Russian: Дмитрий Овчаров) or Dmytro Ovtcharov (Ukrainian: Дмитро Овчаров; born 2 September 1988) is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail, a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born.

Ovtcharov won one silver and three bronze medals at the Olympics between 2008 and 2016. As of February 2017, he is ranked fifth in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ovtcharov won the silver medal as part of the German men's team, together with Timo Boll and Christian Süß.

He used a special technique in his serves, which was later picked by TIME as one of the top 50 innovations of 2008.

On 22 September 2010 Ovtcharov had been suspended by the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB) due to a positive A-sample test for Clenbuterol that may be used as a performance-enhancing substance. Ovtcharov himself denied the doping accusation and requested a B-sample analysis which still tested positive. After hearings and further investigations, the hair sample voluntarily offered by Ovtcharov showed no evidence of clenbuterol and its abuse. DTTB later unanimously decided to abolish the suspension on 15 October 2010. The decision was endorsed by ITTF.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics Ovcharov won bronze medals in singles and team events. In June 2015, he won a gold medal at the inaugural European Games. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he was defeated by Vladimir Samsonov in the singles quarter-final. He then won a team bronze medal.