Jean-Michel Saive, Belgian table tennis player

Jean-Michel Saive was born in Liege, Belgium, on November 17, 1969. Jean-Michel Saive’s father was ranked tenth in Belgium table tennis and his mother was crowned with the women’s doubles championship in Belgium, when she was carrying Saive. Hence, it was natural for Saive to take up table tennis and become highly proficient in it. His younger brother, Philippe Saive, is also a table tennis player with a moderate talent. He began playing table tennis at a very young age and he was ranked fourth in Belgium, when he was just thirteen. He joined the Belgian national team in 1982 and in 1985, he became the top ranked player in Belgium. He had held that position till now continuously. Saive was also the world number one from February 9, 1994 to June 8, 1995 and again from March 26, 1996 to April 24, 1996.

Jean-Michel Saive has got an impressive record of 51 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze medals in his international table tennis career. He won the Qatar Open in 1996 and 2002, as well as the World Pro Tour in 2001. He also reached the finals in the World Championship in 1993 and in the World Cup in 1994. Saive is one of the very few players to have participated in 5 consecutive Summer Olympic Games. In the 1996 and 2004 Olympic Games, Saive was the flag bearer of his national team. In honor of his extreme talent, Belgium elected him as the Sports Personality of the Year in 1991 and in 1994. In 1989, Saive was awarded the UNESCO World Award of Fair Play.

One of the most significant moments in the table tennis career of Jean-Michel Saive was the triumph at the Qatar Open in 2002. In the finals, Saive was up against the young Chinese Chuan Chu-Yuan of Taipei. Saive won 4-0, with only the second game a little extended at 12-10. The tenacity of Jean-Michel Saive was revealed in the 1998 US Open ITTF Pro Tour Table Tennis Championships held in Houston, Texas. Saive’s opponent was Legout and the match went to 5 games. In the fourth game, Saive was down 1 game to 2. He staved off 7 match points, with one particular match point going to 27 shots. At 23-24, Legout smashed the ball to the backhand of Saive and fans decided that Saive had lost. To the astonishment of everybody, Saive made a near impossible retrieve and after a few more rallies, made it 24-all. Then he went on to win the game and finally the match.

Recently, Wang Wei, the well-known coach and 1990 U.S. champion, wrote about Jean-Michel Saive. “He refuses to give up a ball. If at all reachable, he will get his racket on it, even if it means that he has to dive like a young Boris Becker at Wimbledon. This physical style and his extroverted presence make him extremely entertaining. He talks to himself, to the spectators, he motions when he's unhappy....and he fights! His all-out attack style is supported by an excellent defense, on the forehand as well as the backhand. Many players seem to feel more control when blocking with the backhand. This may be because the ball's trajectory is more directly aimed at the player, and adjustments can be made more accurately. Nevertheless, the forehand block is critical and one of the players who is best at this is Jean-Michel Saive."