Jan-Ove Waldner (left) overcomes Chinese player Ma Lin in a match during the Athens Olympic Games on Aug 18, 2004. [Photo/Xinhua]

He announced his arrival in 1982 when he lost the European championship singles final to fellow Swede Mikael Applegren, but he overcame that disappointment to go on to win 11 European titles of his own.

Having won the world singles title in 1989, he clinched Olympic gold three years later and snared a silver at the Sydney Games in 2000.

His Olympic career ended in disappointment, however, when he lost the bronze medal match in 2004 in Athens to China's Wang Liqin.