Table tennis is among the sports contested at the Summer Olympic Games. It was introduced at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, where singles and doubles tournaments were held for both genders. The doubles events were dropped from the 2008 Summer Olympics program and replaced by team events. The competitions are conducted in accordance with the rules established by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Wang Nan (China) is the all-time Olympic medal leader, having won four golds—a figure shared with fellow Chinese players Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining—and one silver medal. Wang Hao (China) have won the most medals in the men's competitions, with five, while Ma Lin, Ma Long and Zhang Jike (China) are the male with three gold medals. Eleven players have won four medals and six have won three. Chen Jing competed for China when she won her first two medals in 1988, and for Chinese Taipei when she gained her most recent two medals at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Since 1992, the winner of the women's singles has also won the doubles or team event: Deng Yaping, in 1992 and 1996; Wang Nan, in 2000; Zhang Yining, in 2004 and 2008; Li Xiaoxia, in 2012; and Ding Ning, in 2016. In the men's competition, Liu Guoliang (1996), Ma Lin (2008), Zhang Jike (2012), and Ma Long (2016) have achieved this feat. Besides Deng and Zhang, no other female or male player has successfully defended their singles title, while in the doubles, back-to-back victories were achieved by Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong (1992, 1996), and Wang Nan (with Li Ju in 2000, and Zhang Yining in 2004).