The Olympics are now behind us. What an amazing series of events, from the fantastic opening night to the closing ceremonies. China was the big winner in these Olympics, in medals and in so many other ways. They entered every event. They won a medal in most events but nowhere did they dominate as they did in table tennis.

The Chinese entries in the table tennis competition were, of course, Chinese, but many other countries had Chinese immigrants as their entries, including the four who represented the United States.

Of the top 32 seeds in the men and women’s competition, 19 (58 percent) were born in China. Now that’s domination.

How the Chinese became so good at table tennis is a good story that reaches back into the history of the second World War.

China’s success in this game we call ping pong had its birth 60 years ago as a drug rehabilitation program with Mao Zedong, the long time dictator of China, its author.

Mao had been a general in the Chinese army fighting the invading Japanese from the caves of the northwest mountains.

When the war ended, Mao and his followers began a revolution against General Chaing Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist Chinese forces. Mao’s army won that war and pushed the Nationalist forces off of the mainland to Taiwan, where they remain today.

At the end of the war, the country was devastated.

Crops were ruined and hunger was everywhere. Mao could not release his 2.5-million-man army to go home to complicate an already disastrous situation. Instead, he kept them together in military camps. With nothing to do, the men began to turn to opium, heroin and other drugs.

Mao had played table tennis before the war and knew that a person on drugs could not hit a table tennis ball.

The rehab plan called for every person to take a turn playing table tennis every day as a part of physical training.

They made makeshift tables out of concrete, used a board for a net, and made paddles out of wood.

Supervisors could then identify the drug abusers and they were sent off to special camps. When the men were finally released to go home, Mao directed that every community would have a table tennis rehab program.

Within months, 500 million Chinese were playing table tennis.

Sixty years later, the U.S. has 10,000 table tennis tournament players. China has 40 million. The U.S. has another 20,000 recreational players. China has more than 100 million.

Is it any wonder that China dominates in table tennis? Will we catch up soon?

Don’t hold your breath.

Anderson resident Mark Hopkins is the former president of three colleges, including what was then Anderson College. He is a consultant in international higher education.