Swedish Olympian Pulls Off Insane Trick Shot In Gold Medal Match

Truls Moregard is not only a world-class table tennis player. He’s an Olympic Games showman, too.

The Swede, ranked 26th in the world, enjoyed a miracle run at the Paris Olympics, upsetting world No. 1 Wang Chuquin in the round of 32 on the way to the gold medal match. With his dream of being Olympic champion slipping away Sunday against Wang’s countryman, Fan Zhedong of China, Moregard decided to go out in style.

With Fan two points from the championship, Moregard wowed the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles crowd with an extraordinary display of trickery, executing a “snake shot” to perfection.

The “snake” is a shot that is struck with the ball below the table and out of the opponent’s view. It is applied with heavy spin to further befuddle the opposing player, who can only guess which way the ball is going to bounce after it hits the table.

Moregard placed so much backspin that the ball bounced back over the net and out of the reach of Fan, who could only smile at the masterful deception. The crowd was stunned at what they had witnessed. Some even gave Moregard a standing ovation.

Fan went on to secure the gold medal with a 4-1 victory.

The 22-year-old Moregard said he was “super proud” of winning a silver medal in his first Summer Games. He felt his gold medal match performance against Fan was superior to his surprising second-round effort against Wang.

“I can’t do it much better than this,” Moregard said afterward. “I tried everything I’ve got in my tool box, so a silver medal feels reasonable after this game.

“He deserved the gold medal. No regrets from me.”