Dimitrij Ovtcharov or Dmytro Ovtcharov 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. Ranked first January to February 2018, he is currently ranked eleventh in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation.
Career
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 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. In June 2017, he won the title at the China Open against Timo Boll, and in August 2017 he won the title at the Bulgaria Open. In January 2018, Ovtcharov became the World's Number 1 Table Tennis Player.
Equipment
Ovtcharov is a right-handed player and uses the shakehand grip. He is a Butterfly sponsored athlete. He uses a custom-made Arylate Carbon blade with Dignics 09C on his forehand and Dignics 05 on his backhand.
World Cup appearances: 1st in 2017 5. Record: 5–8th, 3rd position : .
World Tour winner : 2010 India Open. 2011 Brazil Open. 2011 Korea Open. 2012 German Open. 2014 German Open. 2017 India Open. 2017 China Open. 2017 Bulgaria Open. 2017 German Open.
