If it turns out that Gates likes the sport enough to offer financial support coach Danny Seemiller won't mind. A little of his interest, personal and otherwise, could go a long way. The U.S. team has never won a medal in Olympic competition, and it's unlikely they'll capture one in Sydney. The highest-ranked American woman is Jun Gao Chang, who is 28th. She won her first match and plays again Tuesday, but is a longshot for a medal.
Table tennis is a hugely popular sport around the world, particularly in Asia.
It's popular in America, too, but mostly as a recreational novelty. Until that perception changes, Olympic medals will be hard to come by, says Seemiller. If we had a 30-minute TV slot at night and one of our players had a good game, that would be great. Indeed, most Americans probably don't know table tennis is in the Olympics. They certainly don't know there are breaks for the players to towel off after every change of serve.