The Most Famous
TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS from France
This page contains a list of the greatest French Table Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 107 Table Tennis Players, 4 of which were born in France. This makes France the birth place of the 9th most number of Table Tennis Players behind Romania, and North Korea.
Top 5
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary French Table Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous French Table Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Jean-Philippe Gatien (b. 1968)
With an HPI of 51.46, Jean-Philippe Gatien is the most famous French Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.
Jean-Philippe Gatien (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ filip ɡasjɛ̃], born 16 October 1968, in Alès, France, is a retired French table tennis player. He competed in four Olympics Games from 1988 to 2000, winning silver in the singles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and bronze in doubles (with Patrick Chila) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He won the World Table Tennis Championships in 1993, the Table Tennis World Cup in 1994, and was 13-time "champion de France". A left-handed player, his offensive style featured a superb forehand smash. He has also won three English Open titles. Following numerous injuries, Gatien retired on 15 May 2004. Having made his debut with French club AS Salindres, he made his final public appearance there in an exhibition match with Patrick Chila, June 2006. His long list of victories make him the greatest French table tennis player of all time.
2. Patrick Chila (b. 1969)
With an HPI of 45.28, Patrick Chila is the 2nd most famous French Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Patrick Antoine Edouard Chila (born 27 November 1969 in Ris-Orangis, Essonne) is a French table tennis player who has competed at five Olympics from 1992 to 2008. He won a bronze medal with Jean-Philippe Gatien in doubles at the 2000 Olympics. He is also four-time champion of France (1998, 2003, 2007, 2008). He announced his international retirement after his participation in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
3. Félix Lebrun (b. 2006)
With an HPI of 40.06, Félix Lebrun is the 3rd most famous French Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Félix Lebrun (pronounced [feliks lə.bʁœ̃] ; born 12 September 2006) is a French table tennis player and 2025 French national champion. He was a gold medalist at the 2023 European Games and reached the top ten list of the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) world ranking for the first time in October 2023. As of 12 November 2024, he was ranked number 4 in the world in the ITTF world rankings, making him the top-ranked French and European player. Stylistically, he plays with a penholder grip (with a reverse penhold backhand), which is a rarity among top players today. He won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, one in individual and one in team, thus becoming at 17 years the youngest ever medalist in those events, and also the youngest male medalist in Olympic table tennis. In October 2024, he became the first French player to win a WTT Champions tournament in Montpellier. By the end of 2024, he also became world's top ranked doubles player along with his elder brother Alexis Lebrun. In March 2025, he became the French national table tennis champion by defeating Alexis in the final.
4. Alexis Lebrun (b. 2003)
With an HPI of 38.13, Alexis Lebrun is the 4th most famous French Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Alexis Lebrun (pronounced [a.lɛk.si lə.bʁœ̃] ; born 27 August 2003) is a French table tennis player and a three-time French national champion, from years 2022 to 2024. He also became European champion in 2024 and won the Europe Top-16 tournament in 2025, consolidating his status as a top European player. As of 13 May 2025, he is ranked 8th in the world in the ITTF world rankings. Alexis plays also with his brother Félix and after their victory at the WTT Finals in 2024, they became world number one in doubles.
5. Emmanuel Lebesson (b. 1988)
With an HPI of 35.16, Emmanuel Lebesson is the 5th most famous French Table Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 11 different languages.
Emmanuel Lebesson (born 24 April 1988) is a French table tennis player. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's singles event, in which he was eliminated by Adrian Crișan, and as part of the French team in the men's team event. In October 2016 he won the men's singles title at the European Table Tennis Championships, defeating compatriot Simon Gauzy in the final.
People
Pantheon has 5 people classified as French table tennis players born between 1968 and 2006. Of these 5, 5 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living French table tennis players include Jean-Philippe Gatien, Patrick Chila, and Félix Lebrun. As of April 2024, 2 new French table tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Félix Lebrun, and Alexis Lebrun.
Living French Table Tennis Players
Go to all Rankings
Jean-Philippe Gatien
1968 - Present
HPI: 51.46
Patrick Chila
1969 - Present
HPI: 45.28
Félix Lebrun
2006 - Present
HPI: 40.06
Alexis Lebrun
2003 - Present
HPI: 38.13
Emmanuel Lebesson
1988 - Present
HPI: 35.16
