Summer Olympics: Last chance for Palo Alto’s Lily Zhang, the greatest American-born table tennis player ever

BURLINGAME — Dangling from Lily Zhang’s necklace is a charm that never comes off.

It says, “Lily, 012,” with the five Olympic rings.

It’s supposed to say “2012,” but the first number fell off sometime between Zhang’s first-ever Olympic appearance in London in 2012, when the then-16-year-old was the third-youngest of any Team USA member at the Games, and this summer, when Zhang will appear in her fourth Olympics in Paris.

Zhang, now 28, is as experienced as her fading necklace.

“This could be my last Olympics,” said the Palo Alto native, who plays her singles match on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT. “I’m just going to try to savor every single moment out there.”

No American has ever medaled in table tennis at the Olympics. Zhang, ranked No. 29 in the world, has a different goal.

“There’s obviously pressure, but I’m trying to look at it in a healthy way, to enjoy the moment,” she said.

It’s been a long grind to get here.

It started 21 years ago, in the laundry room at Stanford, where her father was a professor. There was a ping pong table next to the machines. While the clothes were washing, the 7-year-old Zhang learned how to play.

When she was 9, she entered a national tournament and played well enough to earn a spot on the U-15 United States National Team.

“It was that moment that I realized I can be good, make something out of this,” she said.

She’s had her foot on the gas ever since, with international tournaments starting at age 9.

Throughout her 19-year career, Zhang has won the U.S. Nationals six times, won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships, when she won the first medal by an American in 62 years, and is about to make her fourth Olympic appearance.

Her previous one in Tokyo still makes her upset.

She made it to the Round of 32 but couldn’t squeak by. She was trying too hard, too concerned with her world ranking, too focused on the results.

“I wasn’t there fully,” she said. “I was there physically but mentally I was so checked out. So burned out. Even if you ask my coach in my first round, she said she’s never seen me play like that in my life, how nervous I was, my body language, the way my face was contorting. She was really shocked.”

Zhang wasn’t sure if she’d play again. She took some time off to regroup.

The life of an Olympic table tennis player requires some reflection.

She’s on the road most of the year, playing in professional leagues in France, the United States and India, participating in tournaments all over the world and doing so at an elite level, just to make enough money to make a living.

No American-born player has done what she has

“It’s really lonely,” she said. “Unless you’re from the powerhouse countries, China, Japan, Germany, where they send a full team of coaches, physical therapists, managers. A lot of table tennis players travel alone and do it alone. The hardest part is being quite lonely.

“But I’m still kicking. Barely.”

She’s getting energy from the youngsters.

She met Mountain View native Rachel Sung, 20, when Sung was just a little kid. They didn’t interact much, but Sung was in awe of Zhang.

“I looked up to her,” said Sung, who will make her Olympic debut in women’s doubles next week. “She’s definitely viewed as the person who represents American table tennis because she’s been doing so well for so many years.”

Sung said Zhang opened the door for American-born Chinese players.

“She’s the first American-born who after graduating college continued playing professionally,” Sung said. “She showed me that’s a possibility. Nobody did it before her. She definitely paved the way. It’s always hard to do something nobody has ever done.”

The two spent the month before the Olympics training at the National Training Center at 888 Table Tennis in Burlingame. The space is huge, one of the biggest in the world, said owner, Huifen Chan. It’s also the home to men’s national team members Nandan and Sid Naresh.

On a June day during training, they were going hard, smacking balls back and forth, hitting them with crazy spin, putting their entire bodies in every shot.

“People don’t realize how physical this sport is,” said Zhang. “They think of it as a basement sport.”

But even after bad shots, even when she lost a key point, there was no sign of distress.

“A lot of the people on the court let their emotions get the better of them and they show super negative emotions, anger, frustration,” Sung said. “She does a good job of smiling through it.”

It’s the fun that keeps Zhang going. It took her a long time to rediscover that feeling, the one she used to have in the laundry room at Stanford.

It’s all she wants out of her Olympic experience this time around.

And maybe to meet Simone Biles while she’s there.

“Obviously I want to make my country proud, make the people around me proud,” Zhang said. “But at the end of the day this is something I’m doing for me. It’s what brings me joy. I’m reminding myself of that, not trying to get bogged down in what everyone else expects of me.”

It could be her last chance at an Olympic medal for the greatest American-born player of all time.

But Chan, the owner of the training center, smiles when asked about it.

“She has said before, ‘This is the last one,’ but I think she loves the sport so much that I don’t know if she can give it up,” Chan said. “A lot of rising star girl players really look up to her. She’s an inspirational figure.”