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Olympic Table Tennis
Through The Eye Of The Video Camera

BY GARY RUDERMAN, Owner-Producer, Reflex Sports

PART 1 of 3

The experience for which we had waited four years had finally arrived...another chance to create a video production of the Olympic table tennis competition. Our thoughts drifted back to Barcelona, when we were first commissioned by the ITTF to produce a documentary of the table tennis competition. We'll never forget the look in Waldner's eyes in 1992. There was no letting inferior opponents stay in the game. When Waldner opened up with backhand loop-kills instead of dinks, we knew that he would not let anyone come between him and the gold.

Our work in that video led to our being appointed again by the ITTF as their official video producer for the Atlanta event. We decided to make this a six hour production instead of four to allow for more complete matches, and we arranged for additional camera coverage. We were anxious to record the inevitable attempt by the Swedish, as well as by European players in general, to regain their mastery over the Chinese to retaliate for the Chinese sweep at the '95 Worlds in Tianjin. On the other hand, China, with its formidable contingent of Kong, Liu and Wang, were determined to prove the '95 win was no fluke.

Since we did not leave for Atlanta until the start of the table tennis event, we had a chance to hear about the heat and transportation problems. Through David Engel, a table tennis friend in Atlanta, we were able to arrange for one of his rental apartments in Buckhead, the trendy party-scene neighborhood of Atlanta. Getting to the venue was another matter, as commuters and spectators crowded into subway trains already packed to the brim, and cries of "no more room" could be heard from those inside. At the venue stations, escalators required police control to keep them from getting overloaded. Believe it or not, we actually got used to this three-hour round trip routine and were able to enjoy the camaraderie of people from around the globe accepting the crowds as part of the Olympic experience.

When we got back to Buckhead the first night, we were astounded, to say the least. The nightlife there was something you had to see to believe---House of Blues outdoor rock concerts, wall to wall bars for several blocks, and TV's everywhere including a giant outdoor television screen showing Olympic competition until the wee hours of the morning. A towering bungee slingshot had been set up in the middle of the main street providing stomach- turning thrills to the adventurous. This wild area was quite a sight to come home to after a long 12 hour day, but we had very little time or energy to partake of the madness.

The table tennis venue was in the Georgia World Congress center, home to a number of other events such as wrestling, weightlifting, judo and team handball. We entered the center and proceeded down three escalators. "Oh great," I thought, "Table Tennis has been reduced to being held in a basement." We entered what was literally an "air lock" area, where the entry doors had to be shut before the doors into the competition area could be opened. We were told this was a solution to the problem of air drafts affecting the play. This area was actually a warehouse turned stadium, some 89,000 sq. ft. in size, accommodating more than 5,000 spectators. The playing area held up to eight tables, and an adjoining area had the same number of tables for practice. The competition area was most colorful with bluish-purple tables, red-tone floors, sky blue barriers with Atlanta Olympic logos and special lighting right over the courts, all combining to make for a highly photogenic scene.

Our first day of shooting was the morning after the Centennial Park bomb incident, so we had no idea what to expect. We had to explain over and over again that our battery belts were merely battery belts. One of our cameras was already in the stadium, but the second camera was five blocks away with the other cameraman, and with the lockdown, we began to panic that he wouldn't be let in. Somehow he managed to talk his way past the security and wheel the additional equipment in.

 

The matches begin


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