Li Yingying, outside spiker of the Chinese women's national volleyball team, will participate in her second edition of Summer Olympic Games in Paris this year. This time, she wants to help the team make a difference from the disappointing result at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

Having arrived in Tokyo as the defending champions, China lost all of their first three matches to Türkiye, USA and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in Pool B. As a result, the team failed to make the knockout stage and had to go home early.

That was the first Olympic trip of Li, who was only 21 at that time, but had to experience the pain with the team.

"It's such a pity," Li told China Media Group (CMG). "We worked hard in training everyday in the past five years. I underperformed and I'm sorry I let coach Lang Ping down."

Li soon overcame the frustration and grew quickly in the following three years to become an attacking ace of the Chinese national team. There were some setbacks, including injuries, for her to deal with from time to time, but Li beat them all and helped China win the women's volleyball gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in 2023.

Li hasn't been fighting alone. As more key players, including Zhang Changning and Zhu Ting return to the national team in better health and form, Li's firepower was further released, enabling China to enrich their offense.

Back in June, China won all of their four matches in the FIVB Women's Nations League in south China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and secured qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games. Li and her teammates earned their second chance to chase an Olympic gold in Paris.

"The Olympic Games for me is in one word: cruel," Li said. "After what happened last time, I realized that everyone is fighting to survive at the Olympics.

I want to be fully-prepared for the Olympics this year. I hope we can stand onto the podium this time."