Lang Ping

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Lang Ping

Medal record
Competitor for  China
Olympic Games
Gold 1984 Los Angeles Team
FIVB Women's World Championship
Gold 1982 Peru Team
Silver 1990 China Team
FIVB World Cup
Gold 1981 Japan Team
Gold 1985 Japan Team
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lang.

"Jenny" Lang Ping (Chinese: 郎平; pinyin: Láng Píng; born December 10, 1960 in Beijing), is a former Chinese volleyball player and the former head coach of the United States women's national volleyball team. Her nickname is the "Iron Hammer".[1]

In 2002, she became an inductee of the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts.[2] She coached the U.S. National team to a silver medal in at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in her home country.

She is now coaching the China National Team.

Biography

Lang Ping was born in Beijing, and is of Manchu ethnicity.

She moved to the United States to study and serve as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of New Mexico. When asked of her move, she said she wanted "to taste a normal life."[3] She has a 20-year old daughter, Lydia Bai, who is a member of the Stanford women's volleyball team.[4]

She maintains Chinese citizenship despite living in the U.S for more than 15 years.[5]

Career

Lang was a member of the Chinese National Team that won the Gold Medal over the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. She was also a member of the team that won World Championship crown in 1982 in Peru and World Cup titles in 1981 and 1985.[6]

Legacy in China

Owing to her central role in the success of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the 1980s, Lang was seen as a cultural icon and is one of the most respected people in modern Chinese sports history. At the end of the 1976 Cultural Revolution, China re-joined the sporting world. Though the Chinese ping-pong team won competitions internationally, ping-pong had always been considered a Chinese expertise. Lang and the women's volleyball team was the first team sport to win the World Championship multiple times, concluding with the 1984 Olympics. Lang was the star outside hitter on the team. She will always be remembered as one of the very first world champions for China.[7]

Coaching

Lang Ping was an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico from 1987–89 and 1992-93.[2]

In 1995, Lang became the head coach of the Chinese national team and eventually guided the squad to the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia and second place at the 1998 World Championships in Japan.[6] Lang Ping resigned from the Chinese national team in 1998 due to health reasons. In the following year, she took a head coaching position in the Italian professional volleyball league and enjoyed great success there, winning the league championship and the coach of the year award multiple times.

She became the coach of the US National Team in 2005. Lang guided the team to the 2008 Olympics, where the US team faced off with China in her home country. The US team defeated China 3-2. Chinese president Hu Jintao attended the match.[8] The match drew 250 million television viewers in China alone. The team went on to win the silver medal, losing to Brazil in the finals 3-1. Lang resigned from the position in 2008, citing that she wanted to spend more time with her family.

She is now coaching the China National Team.

Major titles

Honors

  • Chinese Top Ten Athletes of the year, 1981-1986
  • FIVB Coach of the Year, 1996[2]
  • Woman Volleyball Coach in Italy of the year, 1999-2000

References

  1. ↑ Tabuchi, Hiroko (2008-08-09). "Return of the "Iron Hammer"". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "China's Lang Ping gets U.S. volleyball post". USA Today. 2005-02-08. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  3. ↑ Townsend, Brad (2008-08-06). "Lang Ping left China for "normal life"". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  4. ↑ "Lydia Bai Bio". 
  5. ↑ "Iron Hammer still pounding". China Daily. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 O'Halloran, Ryan (2008-08-15). "Lang Ping goes home". Washington Times. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  7. ↑ Lassen, David (2008-07-08). "U.S. women's volleyball coach an icon back in Beijing". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
  8. ↑ Wong, Edward (2008-08-15). "Ex-Chinese Star Guides U.S. to Win in Volleyball". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-16. 

External links

Preceded by
United States Kevin Hambly		 United States women's national volleyball team coach
2004-2008 		Succeeded by
New Zealand Hugh McCutcheon
United States
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