China’s most famous Taylor Swift fan saw his wildest dreams come true on Sunday afternoon when Fan Zhendong finally captured a long-awaited individual Olympic gold medal. The nine-time world champion extended another Chinese gold rush in Olympic table tennis by defeating Sweden’s Truls Moregard in four thrilling sets to add the men’s singles title to the country’s previous victories in the women’s singles and men’s singles, with only the team events still to come. China has now won 35 of the 40 gold medals and 63 of the 118 medals since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1988.
Fan, 28, is already a huge celebrity in China, where the sport is a national obsession. But the unapologetic Swiftie has seen his global profile explode during these Olympics, thanks to unearthed social media clips that have activated the American singer’s ultra-online fan base.
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“Music is universal,” Fan wrote on Weibo earlier this year. “Great musicians like Taylor Swift bring us healing power and self-confidence. I hope everyone can feel her charm.”
Confidence wasn’t Fan’s problem on Sunday afternoon, even after he surprisingly lost the opening set 11-7. All he had to do was stay within reach and wait for the moment to unleash his powerful forehand when the openings presented themselves. Everything changed after Fan took the second set, fending off a solid rally from Moregard in the third, winning both sets 11-9 to take a two sets to one lead.
“The first two matches [Moregard] “He was excellent in his defense and he was also very active in his offense,” Fan said. “So it took me a while to get into the groove, if you want to call it that, to really get into my game and then break his rhythm. Those were the challenges.”
Fan, whose nickname Xiao-Pang translates to Little Fatty, mesmerized a flag-waving Chinese contingent that created a cauldron-like atmosphere in the 6,400-seat exhibition hall with fearless shooting techniques, deft footwork and perhaps the world’s best backhand to take control of the long rallies. This was him trying.
At the start of the deciding fourth set, Fan was out of the danger zone and on his way to an Olympic gold. After finally winning the title with his sixth championship point with a pinpoint backhand down the line, he pirouetted toward the sea of red with his arms crossed in satisfaction at improving on his silver medal from three years ago. Fan’s best day was the culmination of a jewel-studded career that has included nine world championship golds, 13 total medals and an Olympic team gold.
Fans’ affection for Swift came under the spotlight following her semi-final victory over French teen sensation Félix Lebrun on Friday, when a clip emerged of the Guangzhou native smashing Cruel Summer’s bridge while surrounded by Swift fans, all the more notable given that Fan rarely gives interviews in English. Swifties around the world soon began plastering Fans’ faces on Swift posters and stickers in a show of support for the former world No. 1.
Fan’s historic victory in August, the title of one of Swift’s songs on Folklore, didn’t go unnoticed by a fandom whose penchant for numerology, Easter eggs, and broader tasseography has now become the stuff of folklore.
But table tennis is a serious business in mainland China, and Fan’s fandom hasn’t always been so generously received. It came under the spotlight in March when he was defeated by 18-year-old compatriot Lin Shidong at a World Table Tennis event in Singapore. Online critics attributed the defeat to Fan’s attendance at the Eras Tour at the Singapore National Stadium a few days earlier, prompting him to defend himself on social media.
“I am an athlete raised by my country,” Fan said. “It is my duty to fight for the country and I have not let this slip for more than 10 years. In my spare time, I am just an ordinary young man. I have normal hobbies and I have my social network. I will remain true to my heart under the premise that I follow the law and the rules.”
It’s possible that Fan, who suffers from the behavior of obsessive fans, can relate to the mania surrounding Swift. Last year, he urged his millions of followers to “be rational and boycott fandom culture” after someone broke into his Beijing hotel room and stole his underwear. He posted on Weibo: “I beg my fans to allow me to be a normal person.”
But that was all a distant memory on Sunday, when Fan claimed the one title that had eluded him until now.
Fan’s triumph was the main event of a session in which Lebrun claimed France’s first Olympic table tennis medal in 32 years. The 17-year-old with square glasses and anachronistic pen grip, who has become one of the stars of these Paris Olympics, swept aside Brazil’s Hugo Calderano in the bronze medal match in front of a jubilant crowd that sounded air horns and held up the French tricolour flags at every point.
The highest-ranked male player outside China, Lebrun’s success — including a run in doubles with his older brother, Alexis — made him an overnight celebrity in the host country. Zinedine Zidane came out to watch the two brothers on Wednesday, while American basketball star Tyrese Haliburton posted on X: “The Lebrun brothers are electric.” Spectators and press, turned away by stewards, filled the catwalks and stretched to take photos from the steps. After winning France’s second ever Olympic medal in men’s table tennis singles, and its first since Jean-Philippe Gatien took silver in 1992, he performed a victory lap for the adoring crowd.
But in the end, the day was Fan’s, an Olympic champion for life.
