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Name:Zhagn Rongfang
Gender: F
Birth Date:April 15, 1957
Birth Place:Chengdu, Sichuan Province
Sport:Volleyball |
Personal best:
Gold Medal of volleyball, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
Sports career:
Zhang began volleyball training at the age of 13. She entered the Sichuan provincial volleyball team two years later. Then she joined the national team in 1976.
High Performances:
1977 World Cup - 4th
1978 World Women's Championship - 6th
1978 Bangkok Asian Games - 2nd
1979 Asian Women's Championship - 1st
1981Bremen International Invitational - 1st (Named Best Defender)
1981 World Cup - 1st
1982 World Women's Championship - 1st
1982 New Delhi Asian Games - 1st
1983 China-US-Japan Super-Three Women's Volleyball Meet - 1st (as captain of the team)
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - 1st (China's third straight win in major world tournaments in the 1980s)
Honors:
1986 - Voted Best Coach at the Czechoslovakia World Women's Championship
Known as a "freak" volleyballer most difficult to deal with.
Coaching Highlights:
1986 - Chinese national women's team, 1st, Czechoslovakia World Championship
1986 - Chinese national women's team, 1st, Seoul Asian Games
At Present:
In 1984, Zhang was appointed Deputy Director of the Sichuan Provincial Physical Culture and Sports Commission, later on, she became a student at Chengdu Institute of Telecommunication Engineering. After graduation, she took up the posts of head coach of the national women's volleyball team and deputy director of the SPCSC Training Bureau in 1986. Now Zhang is the Vice-Chairwoman of the China Youth Federation and Deputy Director of the Volleyball Administrative Centre of the China General Administration of Sport.
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Name:Lang Ping
Gender: F
Birth Date: December 10, 1960
Birth Place: Beijing
Sport: Volleyball |
Personal best:
Gold Medal of volleyball, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
Sports career:
Lang Ping is a legendary of volleyball. She took up volleyball in a spare-time sports school in Beijing Workers' Gymnasium in April 1973, then joined the volleyball team of Beijing's Chenjinglun Middle School a year later and then entered a volleyball training class in Beijing's No. 2 Spare-time Sports School before becoming a member of the Beijing youth volleyball team.
Promoted to the Beijing municipal team headed by Yuan Weimin in 1976 and chosen by the national team towards the end of 1978, she played a chief spiker and served successively as the team's deputy captain, captain and assistant coach. Her unique passion of the game steered the Chinese team to the first world title at the Third World Cup Volleyball Tournament in 1981, before they swept three more major world titles in the 1982 World Championships, 1984 Olympic Games and 1985 World Cup for four straight wins in five years.
She is known as an "Iron Hammer" for her powerful spikes characterized by high jumps, stylish arm movements, brisk and forceful downward punches, varied tactics and a high success rate.
High Performances:
1978 Asian Games - 2nd volleyball
1979 Asian Championships - 1st
1981 Bremen International Volleyball Invitational - 1st
1981 World Cup - 1st (China's first world title in women's volleyball)
1982 World Women's Volleyball Championship - 1st
1982 Asian Games - 1st volleyball
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - 1st volleyball
1985 World Cup - 1st
Honors:
1981 - Named Best Spiker at the Bremen International Invitational and Best Player at the 3rd World Cup
1981 - Named Outstanding Athlete by the SPCSC
1981, 1983 & 1985 - Thrice awarded National Sports Medal of Honour by the SPCSC
1985 - Named Best Player at the 4th World Cup
1985 - Awarded a badge for the Year of Youth by the IOC
1986 - Awarded the title of International Master of Sports by the SPCSC
April 1997 - Elected Best Women's Coach of 1996 by the International Volleyball Federation
1999 - Nominated as one of Best Athletes of the Century in a national selection jointly organized by the Chinese Olympic Committee, Henry Fok Foundation and China Sports Press Association
Coaching Highlights:
1989 - Italy's Modena Club women's team - 1st, Italian Cup
1990 - Chinese national women's team - 2nd, World Women's Championship
1991 - New Mexico State University women's team - 1st, Eastern US Women's Volleyball Tournament
1995 - Chinese national women's team - 3rd, World Cup
September 1997 - Chinese national women's team - 1st, Asian Women's Championship
November 1998 - Chinese national women's team - 1st, Asian Games volleyball
December 1998 - Chinese national women's team - 2nd, World Women's Championship
May 2002 - Italy's Modena Club women's team - 1st, Italian Women's Volleyball League
At Present:
Lang studied English language at the Beijing Normal University after retirement in 1986. In April 1987, she moved to the United States where she continued her English study in the New Mexico State University on a two-year scholarship provided by the New China Foundation of the overseas Chinese residing in San Francisco. Later on, she began to study for a Master's degree in the sports management department of the same university after passing the TOFEL and GRE tests in 1988.
In 1990 she was on request to come back coaching the Chinese national team to the 11th World Women's Volleyball Championship. Following that, she went back to New Mexico to continue her studies while serving as a coach of the university's women's volleyball team. During that period, she was also invited to be the head coach of both Japan's Yaohan Multinational All-Stars Team and the World Superstars Team, and was appointed as chief coach of the All-American Training Centre under the US Volleyball Association. In January 1995, she decided to run for the position of the national head coach in women's volleyball.
Back to Beijing in February 1995, Lang began her coaching career in China. After resigning from her post for health reasons in March 1999, she took up the post of the head coach of Italy's Modena club team in July 1999.
The most brilliant sports achievement for China in the 1980s was the historic breakthrough made by the Chinese women's volleyball team, which swept five major world titles in succession, thanks to the great efforts made by Lang Ping, one of the world's three ace spikers who played a leading role in it with her hammer-like devastating smashes.
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Name:Zhou Xiaolan
Gender:F
Birth Place:Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Sport:Volleyball |
Personal best:
Gold Medal of volleyball, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
Sports career:
Zhou began volleyball training in a local spare-time sports school in 1973 and was chosen by the Shanxi provincial women's volleyball team that same year. She joined the national youth team and then the national team in 1977.
High Performances:
1977 World Youth Women's Championship - 2nd
1978 World Women's Championship - 6th
1978 Bangkok Asian Games - 2nd
1979 Asian Women's Championship - 1st (Best Performance Award)
1981 World Cup - 1st
1982 World Women's Championship - 1st
1982 New Delhi Asian Games - 1st
1983 China-US-Japan Super-Three Women's Volleyball Meet - 1st
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - 1st
Honors:
Known as the "Tian'anmen Wall".
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Name:Zhu Ling
Gender: F
Birth Date:July 10, 1957
Birth Place:Laiwu, Shandong Province
Sport:Volleyball |
Personal best:
Gold Medal of volleyball, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
Sports career:
Starting volleyball training in Chongqing No. 6 Middle School in 1970, Zhu entered the Sichuan provincial volleyball team in 1975. Later, she joined the national team for intensified training in 1979.
High Performances:
1981 World Cup - 1st
1983 Asian Women's Championship - 2nd
1984 China-Japan-USA-USSR Four-Nation Invitational - 1st
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - 1st
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Name:Yang Xilan
Gender: F
Birth Date: March 16, 1961
Birth Place: Tianjin
Sport:Volleyball
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Personal best:
Gold Medal of volleyball, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
Sports career:
Chosen by the Army's "August 1st" volleyball team in 1976,Yang entered the national youth team as a setter in 1981. Then she joined the national team for intensified training in 1982.
High Performances:
1982 World Women's Championship - 1st
1982 New Delhi Asian Games - 1st
1983 China-US-Japan Super-Three Women's Volleyball Meet - 1st
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - 1st
1985 World Cup - 1st (Named Outstanding Player)
1985 China-FIVB World All-Stars Tournament - Two straight wins
1986 Czechoslovakia World Women's Championship - 1st (Named Best Player and Best Setter)
1986 Seoul Asian Games - 1st
Honors:
1985 - Awarded the title of International Master of Sports Next Page
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