Olympics: Lang Ping now heads U.S. volleyball team

CHICAGO — Oh, the ironies and full-circle possibilities of one "Jenny" Lang Ping.

Most Americans won't recognize the name — but a good share of Beijing's 18 million and China's 1.3 billion know Lang Ping, the youthful volleyball player nicknamed "Iron Hammer," who led her country's team to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics gold medal and ensuing public honor in China such as having her own postage stamp, having her wedding broadcast by national television and having several stadiums named after her.

Now the 44-year-old head coach of the U.S. women's indoor volleyball team, Lang Ping will lead the American women — likely to include two-time Olympian and former Highland High standout Logan Tom — to the 2008 Beijing Games, the same Games she helped her hometown win as a bid-delegation member seven years ago in Moscow.

Lang Ping, who coached China to a silver medal on American soil at the 1996 Atlanta Games before coaching professionally in Italy, was offered the U.S. job three years ago.

"Actually, I was hesitant to take over this job because of the Games being in Beijing," she said at Wednesday's final day of the 2008 United States Olympic Committee Media Summit.

So Lang Ping did what any national celebrity would do — she took it to her Chinese Web site.

After floating the possibility and getting a thumbs-up from 85 percent of respondents, she took the U.S. job, despite the worries from some of "Why not China?" and "Maybe someday you'll beat us and it will hurt our feelings."

Living in Los Angeles with an American-born teenage daughter helped her make the decision to stay and work in the U.S. And, she adds, China shouldn't worry, since its women's team is the defending Olympic champion with a top-three world ranking.

"It's great to go home," Lang Ping said, expecting Beijing crowd support. "I'm pretty sure when we play against other teams — except China — they will cheer for us, so we get some benefit there, too."

A product of her country's state-sport development system since the age of 14, Lang Ping missed the 1980 Moscow Games when China joined the U.S.-led boycott.

Then came the 1984 Olympics.

Nicole Davis, a current U.S. team member, has watched '84 highlights of her coach playing in the 1984 Games.

"She led her team. She carried the team on her back, which is a rare thing for one player to have the ability to do," Davis said. "She was one of the younger players on the team, and she still did that."

Lang Ping enjoyed another personal Olympic highlight recently, carrying the torch in the San Francisco relay and passing unbothered by anti-China protests.

"I tried not to see them," she said. "I just tried to look for the (Chinese) national flag and wave to the people who called my name."

And Lang Ping tries to overlook the varying controversies pointed toward China leading into this summer.

"There's always some political thing involved in the Olympic Games. I don't think it's correct. The Olympic Games always bring everybody together. We have a great union of sports. We have peace and friendship, and we always want to enjoy the Olympic Games instead of talking about a lot of political issues.

"They can talk about that after, but not during the Olympic Games."

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E-mail: taylor@desnews.com

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