in the 1950's, paddles that used a rubber sheet combined with an underlying sponge layer changed the game dramatically, introducing greater spin and speed. these were introduced to britain by sports goods manufacturer s.w. hancock ltd. the use of speed glue beginning in the mid-1980's increased the spin and speed even further, resulting in changes to the equipment to "slow the game down". table tennis was introduced as an olympic sport at the olympics in 1988.