Lang Ping becomes first person to win Olympic gold as player and coach

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 21, 2016 – China coach Lang Ping added another Olympic gold medal to her long list of outstanding achievements, this time as coach of the Asian squad that beat Serbia in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games women’s final at Maracanazinho on Saturday.

Lang Ping won the gold medal as a player at Los Angeles 1984, then embarked on a coaching career to lead the women’s national team of China to silver at Atlanta 1996. She then moved to the United States and coached the national team to silver at Beijing 2008.

She returned to China to coach again the women’s team in 2013. This was also the time that she brought in new faces to their line-up, including Rio 2016 MVP Zhu Ting. She continued to introduce young players to their line-up to help seasoned players Hui Ruoqi and Xu Yunli.

China won the FIVB Volleyball World Cup in September 2015, which was their qualification pathway to Rio 2016, together with runners-up Serbia.

China indeed faced some setbacks after that, as they have not performed well in the final round of the World Grand Prix. They also did not have a leader like Hui Ruoqi, who can help motivate the younger players.

At the start of the Rio 2016 competition, China only posted two victories in their five matches that put them in fourth position in the preliminary round ranking. Fourth place was enough to get them through to the quarterfinals, where they faced Brazil.

China felt tremendous pressure, as they had to play an undefeated team that was also playing in their home court. China made an incredible finish in the five-set bout that left the entire crowd silent. The Chinese team …

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