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In a narrow tent outside Peking University Gymnasium, table tennis players sit shoulder-to- shoulder, applying a performance-enhancer for the last time at an Olympics. Not steroids or human growth hormone; the substance of choice here is speed glue.

The adhesive, which sticks rubber skins to rackets, also helps increase ball speed and spin, and has been favored by top paddlers since a forgetful Yugoslavian player discovered its benefits by accident in the 1970s. The glue's effect is multiplied if applied immediately before a match.

One week after the last of the sport's four gold medals is awarded Aug. 23 at the gymnasium, speed-gluing will be officially banned and table tennis will enter a new era of reduced turn and torque.

"A lot of players attribute their wins to the glue," Bob Fox, U.S. table tennis team leader at the past four Olympics, said in an interview. "That's going to be very interesting to see how people adapt."

Outside the Olympic gymnasium, most of the leading paddlers can be found in the so-called Gluing Room, adhering to a ritual also involving blow dryers, sponges and rubber sheets.

The glue expands when applied, producing a short-term tension in the outer rubber similar to a trampoline. The rule change will make bats less springy and balls will be returned with less force, said Zhou Shusen, China's national coach.

"It affects everyone and whoever can adjust to the changes quickest will gain the advantage," Zhou, personal coach of Olympic singles champion Zhang Yining, said in an interview yesterday. "We will have to adjust our training techniques."

Volatile Compounds

For the sport's rulers, it's not excessive speed and top- spin that's worrying them. The main concern is toxic substances in the glues that the International Table Tennis Federation refers to as "volatile organic compounds." They may put players at risk through prolonged exposure.

When a Japanese paddler got sick at a tournament last year, the federation said there was a possible link to speed glues. After Beijing, the governing body of table tennis is serious about cracking down on illegal gluers.

"I guess you can call it a doping control of sorts," Marius Widmer, a spokesman for the ITTF, said during an interview in Beijing.

The federation has helped to develop the Enez device, which costs 240 euros ($350) and detects volatile vapors produced by the process in as little as a minute.
Repertoire

In most instances, rackets will be tested pre-match. If after play starts an umpire suspects speed-gluing and a test confirms it, violators will be disqualified. Water-based glues are allowed, though none yet has the same effect.

Paddlers are particular about the application process of glues. It's no different than the rituals other athletes have before competitions, said Fox.

"You see the track athletes doing the same thing every time they come out to run," he said. "This is a piece of the repertoire of the table tennis player. They go glue in exactly the same way every time. They would never let anyone else do it for them."

Hunched over one of the tables in the Gluing Room - ventilated by fans and located outside - Li Jia Wei of Singapore uses her forearm to firmly press down on the rubber sheet on her racket.

She examines it closely to ensure it's perfectly aligned and stretched before blow-drying - a process that has been honed by top players over years.

Adjustments

In the late 1970s, Dragutin Surbek of Yugoslavia forgot to bring his standard glue to a tournament. He hustled to a nearby bicycle shop and purchased an adhesive for plugging holes in tires. Surbek used the glue to prepare his racket and once play began, he noticed the ball springing off faster and with more pronounced spin.

 

A new day was born in table tennis.

Almost three decades later, another change is coming and many players aren't quite sure what to expect.

"I may have to make adjustments in technique," said Wei, who helped Singapore claim the women's team silver medal.

Jun Gao of the U.S., who won silver competing for China in 1992, is one of the rare top professionals who doesn't use speed glue. Yet she doesn't expect that to be an advantage for her after the rule change takes effect.

"Equipment is important, but most important is your skill," she said. "The good players, they don't care."