The Most Famous
TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS from Sweden
This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Table Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 107 Table Tennis Players, 7 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 4th most number of Table Tennis Players behind South Korea, and Japan.
Top 9
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Swedish Table Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Swedish Table Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Jan-Ove Waldner (b. 1965)
With an HPI of 57.35, Jan-Ove Waldner is the most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages on wikipedia.
Jan-Ove Waldner (Swedish: [ˈjɑːn uːvɛ ˈvǎldnɛr]; born 3 October 1965), in Sweden commonly J-O Waldner (Swedish: [ˈjiː uː]), is a Swedish former professional table tennis player. He is often referred to as "the Mozart of table tennis." A sporting legend in his native Sweden as well as in China, he is known in China as 老瓦 Lǎo Wǎ ("Old Wa") or 常青树 Cháng Qīng Shù ("Evergreen Tree"), because of his extraordinary longevity and competitiveness.
2. Jörgen Persson (b. 1966)
With an HPI of 47.79, Jörgen Persson is the 2nd most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Jörgen Persson (born 22 April 1966 in Halmstad, Sweden) is a Swedish table tennis player.
3. Stellan Bengtsson (b. 1952)
With an HPI of 46.66, Stellan Bengtsson is the 3rd most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Stellan Bengtsson (born 26 July 1952) is a Swedish former table tennis player. He became the first Swede to win the men's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1971. He has won three World championships, seven European championships and 65 International championships. He also won seven English Open titles.
4. Kjell Johansson (1946 - 2011)
With an HPI of 45.33, Kjell Johansson is the 4th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Kjell Johansson (5 October 1946 – 24 October 2011) was a Swedish table tennis player. From 1963 to 1977, he won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the European Table Tennis Championships and in the World Table Tennis Championships. He won the 1965 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. He was a native of Eskilstuna. He also won three English Open titles. Johansson was called Hammaren, which means "The Hammer" in Swedish, because of his hard forehand. His brother Christer Johansson was also an international table tennis player. Johansson died in Eksjö on 24 October 2011, aged 65, following a long illness.
5. Mikael Appelgren (b. 1961)
With an HPI of 44.72, Mikael Appelgren is the 5th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Kent Mikael Appelgren (born 15 October 1961 in Stockholm) is a Swedish former table tennis player.
6. Erik Lindh (b. 1964)
With an HPI of 41.12, Erik Lindh is the 6th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Erik Lindh (born 24 May 1964) is a former international Swedish table tennis player who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics and in the 1992 Summer Olympics. In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he finished in third place and won the bronze medal. He was a member of the winning Swedish teams in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 World Table Tennis Team Championships. He also won an English Open title. Lindh was a pioneer of the style of looping the ball very early - often straight after the bounce.
7. Ulf Bengtsson (1960 - 2019)
With an HPI of 39.19, Ulf Bengtsson is the 7th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ulf Bengtsson (26 January 1960 – 17 March 2019) was a Swedish table tennis player and coach. From 1983 to 1988 he won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events at the European Championships, two silver medals with the Swedish team in the World Table Tennis Championships, he also achieved the third place at the Table Tennis World Cup in 1984.
8. Peter Karlsson (b. 1969)
With an HPI of 38.09, Peter Karlsson is the 8th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Karl Peter Karlsson (born 29 May 1969 in Stenstorp, Sweden) is a table tennis player and coach. He was 1991 World Champion in men's doubles (with Thomas von Scheele), and 2000 European Champion in men's singles. He is married to Åsa Karlsson.
9. Kristian Karlsson (b. 1991)
With an HPI of 31.76, Kristian Karlsson is the 9th most famous Swedish Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Kristian Gunnar Karlsson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkrɪ̌sːtɪjan ˈkɑ̌ːɭsɔn]; born 6 August 1991) is a Swedish professional table tennis player.
People
Pantheon has 9 people classified as Swedish table tennis players born between 1946 and 1991. Of these 9, 7 (77.78%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swedish table tennis players include Jan-Ove Waldner, Jörgen Persson, and Stellan Bengtsson. The most famous deceased Swedish table tennis players include Kjell Johansson, and Ulf Bengtsson. As of April 2024, 2 new Swedish table tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Ulf Bengtsson, and Kristian Karlsson.
Living Swedish Table Tennis Players
Go to all Rankings
Jan-Ove Waldner
1965 - Present
HPI: 57.35
Jörgen Persson
1966 - Present
HPI: 47.79
Stellan Bengtsson
1952 - Present
HPI: 46.66
Mikael Appelgren
1961 - Present
HPI: 44.72
Erik Lindh
1964 - Present
HPI: 41.12
Peter Karlsson
1969 - Present
HPI: 38.09
Kristian Karlsson
1991 - Present
HPI: 31.76
