World champion Ma Long retained his Olympics men’s table tennis singles title on Friday, beating compatriot Fan Zhendong 4-2.

The 32-year-old clinched his fourth gold medal at his third Olympic Games winning 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 11-7, celebrating with the “mobot” pose made famous by British distance runner and multiple Olympic champion Mo Farah.

He became the first male paddler to win the gold in two successive Games.

The match was filled with extraordinary exchanges that often mounted in intensity as the men fired powerful, spinning smashes at each other, lunging for successful returns time and again. A winning point was often capped with a victory scream and a fist pump.

Between games, Ma, nicknamed Dragon, would talk to himself as he drank water and wiped sweat from his face. After winning the match, Ma and Fan hoisted the Chinese flag together.

As they have at every Games since 2008, China provided all four singles finalists at Tokyo 2020, Chen Meng having beaten Sun Yingsha to take the women’s title on Thursday. No other country has ever won women’s singles gold.

In the men’s bronze medal match, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov scraped home against Taiwan’s Lin Yun Ju.

When his 19-year-old opponent failed to hit the ball over the net in the deciding point, Ovtcharov stood shocked, placing his hands on his head before kneeling down to the table.

The 32-year-old won 13-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 4-11, 15-13, 11-7, earning his fifth Olympic medal since 2008.

The Tokyo Games, while once again highlighting Chinese singles supremacy, marks a letdown from the Rio Olympics, when China won all four gold medals in the sport. In a massive win for the host nation, Japan beat China for gold in mixed doubles.

China’s singles players have proven themselves so consistently strong that the Olympic rules — with China in mind — were changed ahead of Rio so each country can now only send two players for singles. That allows other nations to compete for the bronze medal.