Now I’ll state this right off the bat, I’ve watched a decent amount of the Olympics so far but in no way have I been able to catch the majority of some of the obscure events outside of what’s been shown in prime time, ie. Phelps, Bolt. But I’ve definitely been watching enough to know that I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen any coverage of this guy, and I kind of need to know why.

I was skimming through some images this morning and stumbled across this captivating figure. I quickly learned that he is table tennis, er, ping pong gold medalist Ma Lin of China. Right off the bat, you can’t tell me you’re not interested to know more about this guy, or tell me you’re not dying to find out what his entrance music would be if the Olympic committee allowed such a thing.

Just look at him. This is freakin’ ping pong. He’s got his shirt pulled up like he just successfully thwarted off an unprecedented 13-on-1 disadvantage to dramatically walk away with the gold medal.

There’s no question that Usain Bolt has people interested in track and field again, bringing the sport back to some level of significance, and rightfully so. I think the same could be done for ping pong if they just gave this guy a little air time.

Did anyone catch any of his matches? If so, please fill us in with some info in the comments. I assume he instantly captured your heart too.

China’s Ma Lin outwits teammate for table tennis men’s gold (SI)