Even though Table Tennis at Olympics started in 1988, its history goes way back to 1931, when the first proposals to include the game in the Olympics were made. The minutes of the Annual General meeting at the 1931 World Championships held in Budapest stated that there was a proposal for its inclusion.
Other proposals were made over the years, but the game was officially recognized by the IOC in 1977, following the amendment of the ITIF Constitution to comply with the requirements of the International Olympics Committee. This resulted in the inclusion of the game in the Summer Olympics program, starting with the 1988 Olympics Games that were held in Seoul. The decision was made in the 84th Session of the IOC in Baden in 1981.
Since then table tennis at Olympics has been watched by many people, both at the events and on television. It has distinguished itself in the different events in 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sidney, 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing. At the Athens Olympic Games, it was ranked at number five in all sports.
Starting from the Beijing 2008, Table tennis at Olympics obtained a new format, remaining the format of table tennis tables the same though. A Team event replaced the team events, making it similar to the Davis Cup Format in tennis, which included 2 Singles, 1 doubles, then 2 singles in which a single player is only allowed to play in tow of the contests. The replacement was done to lessen the emphasis placed on doubles play.
A previous change in table tennis at Olympics was made in 2004 due to China’s dominance. The change involved the division of competitors into two groups, in that the competitors in the same country are in their respective group. This format made it impossible for a single country to go home with the top three methods, like it has been during the previous Table tennis at Olympics.