Team China’s victory in the women’s volleyball final at the Rio Olympics has sent waves of joy across the country. The sport is often associated with national pride and represents a spirit of endurance that boosted China’s morale in the 1980s.
China beat Serbia 3-1 on Saturday local time, bringing home the Olympic gold medal for the third time, following victories at Athens 2004 and Los Angeles 1984.
Lang Ping, veteran coach of the current Chinese volleyball team, also helped China to victory in Los Angeles as a player. She is the first person to win the Olympic volleyball title as both a player and a coach.
The victory has led to a frenzy of happiness in China. On China’s Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform, numerous users said they 「burst into tears」 following the winning point.
The Chinese coach posted a picture of the gold medal on her Weibo account. The photo received nearly 100,000 thumbs-up and tens of thousands of congratulatory comments in the course of a single hour.
「You are a legend,」 said one follower of the coach.
Enthusiasm about the sport in China dates back to 1981 when the then newly assembled national team won the women’s Volleyball World Cup.
The team subsequently went on a winning spree by bringing home another four championship titles in the following five years, including the Olympics and the World Championships.
The female volleyball team soon became an icon for a country that was struggling to improve its economy, catching up with the outside world. The endurance the team demonstrated through its toil of training in a time of national hardship was later dubbed as 「女排精神」, or 「the spirit of the women’s volleyball team.」
Tens of thousands of congratulatory letters were reportedly delivered to the team members, in which writers said they would mirror the team’s hard work to achieve modernity in China.
「The 『spirit』 will pass on to generations to come,」 Lang said on her Weibo account.
Day 15: China grabs 4 golds, 1 bronze in Rio
China won four more gold medals on Day 15 of the Rio Games, maintaining its third place on the medal table with 26 golds, 18 silvers and 26 bronzes.
Chinese women’s volleyball team added the latest gold medal in a 3-1 final against Serbia. This is the third time the Chinese team has won an Olympic gold in this event and is also the first since the 2004 Athens Games.
In diving, Chen Aisen won the men’s 10m platform, bringing home his second gold medal. Earlier, Chen and his partner, Lin Yue, scored gold in the men’s synchronized 10m platform.
The last time China won the men’s 10m platform was in 2004. At Rio, the Chinese team took seven of the eight diving golds.
In badminton, China’s Chen Long won the gold after defeating Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in a 2-0 men’s singles match. Two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan, better known as 「Super Dan,」 ranked fourth after losing to his Danish counterpart, Viktor Axelsen.
In other events, Zheng Shuyin grabbed gold in the women's +67kg taekwondo competition with a score of 5 to 1. That was the second gold medal for China in taekwondo this Olympic. Zheng’s boyfriend, Zhao Shuai, won the first gold medal in the men’s +58kg taekwondo event.
Feng Shanshan also made history in women’s golf, clinching bronze – it’s the first medal for China in the sport at the Olympics.