Lang Ping, one of China’s most respected sports figures, will continue coaching Chinese women’s national volleyball team until the end of the Tokyo Olympics, which is now rescheduled for summer 2021.
The director of the Volleyball Management Center of China’s State General Administration of Sports, Li Quanqiang, revealed on Thursday that Lang has renewed her contract with the Chinese national team. Lang’s original contract was set to expire in August this year. With the Tokyo Olympics postponed, she renewed her contract accordingly, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Li said that there are still some uncertainties on how the Tokyo Olympics will be held. However, the Chinese women’s volleyball team will be prepared and do the corresponding systematic training and various preparations regardless of the situation.
Lang Ping, also known by her nickname “The Iron Hammer,” is one of the most revered figures in China’s modern sports and a national icon. She has won the Olympics volleyball gold medal twice with China’s national team, once as a player in 1984 and then as head coach in 2016. Lang also coached the US women’s volleyball national team from 2005 to 2008, leading it to a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Since returning as head coach of the Chinese women’s volleyball team in 2013, Lang has led the team to win the 2015 World Cup, the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2019 World Cup.
This year, Lang attracted millions of new fans through box office hit Leap, a film adaptation of her career with the Chinese national team. The film became wildly popular, garnering over 800 million yuan at the box office in the Chinese mainland, and will represent China as a contender for best international feature film at the Academy Awards this year.
Lang Ping (2nd, L), the head coach of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, gives instructions during a match against Chinese Taipei at 2013 Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Sept. 16, 2013. China won 3-0.(Xinhua/Gao Jianjun)
