Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Who is Dimitrij Ovtcharov?

Dimitrij Ovtcharov or Dmytro Ovtcharov; born September 2, 1988 in Kiev is an Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mykhailo has moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born.

As of July 2013, he is ranked #6 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ovtcharov won the silver medal as part of the German men's team, together with Timo Boll and Christian Süß. He used a special technique in his serves, which was later picked by TIME as one of the top 50 innovations of 2008.

On September 22, 2010 Ovtcharov had been suspended by the German Table Tennis Federation due to a positive A-sample test for Clenbuterol that may be used as performance-enhancing substance. Ovtcharov himself denied the doping accusation and requested a B-sample analysis which still tested positive. After hearings and further investigations, the hair sample voluntarily offered by Ovtcharov showed no evidence of clenbuterol and its abuse. DTTB later unanimously decided to abolish the suspension on October 15, 2010. The decision was endorsed by ITTF.