Rio 2016 was the last Olympics Joo Saehyuk played. At the age of 36, he only played in team matches and gave up singles matches. He defeated Hugo Calderano of Brazil 3-0 in the first round, and beated Kristian Karlsson of Sweden 3-1 in the quarter final. Then Joo lost to Ma Long of China 0-3 with a huge gap in the semifinal. At the bronze medal match, Joo lost to Dimitrij Ovtcharov 2-3 and then lost to Timo Boll 0-3, finally missing the men's team bronze medal.
