Jun Mizutani: The Man Who Won Japan's First-Ever Olympic Table Tennis Gold
2020 Tokyo Olympic mixed doubles champion, winner of the first Olympic gold medal in the history of Japanese table tennis.
Where He Fits
On home ground in Tokyo he did what Japanese table tennis had waited decades for — kept the gold medal in his own country.
Playing Style
- Left-handed shakehand with strong mid-to-far-distance rallies and high-quality ball exchanges
- Excellent backhand defense-to-attack conversion, able to counterattack even from deep
- Good fit in doubles and mixed doubles, with sharp positioning instincts
Career and Key Moments
At the 2016 Rio Olympics he won men’s singles bronze and helped Japan take team silver. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics he partnered Mima Ito to win mixed doubles gold — the first Olympic gold in Japanese table tennis history and a watershed in the shifting world order of the sport. He announced his retirement in 2021 and moved into commentary and promotion.
What He Left Behind
His gold medal changed how Japanese table tennis saw itself: from “chaser” to “champion.” The rise of the next wave — Tomokazu Harimoto, Mima Ito, Hina Hayata — stands on the confidence that medal created.
Remember this: a country’s place in this sport is sometimes redefined by a single gold medal.