-Team from volleyball-crazed nation caps incredible comeback from rocky early results to beat Serbia in Olympic final

-Coach Lang Ping turns from villain to hero after a stint in charge of the American team during which they defeated China at the Beijing Olympics

-Final gets a 70-percent national TV audience share, delighting viewers in a Games that was disappointing for China overall

A 12-year wait for Olympic glory finally ended for the Chinese women’s volleyball team in August, when the players reached the pinnacle of the sport by beating Serbia 3-1 to win gold at Rio 2016. 

The team was last crowned Olympic champion at the 2004 Games in Athens, having previously climbed to the top step of the podium in Los Angeles in 1984. 

The rangy ladies in red have enjoyed many successes over the years, including a dominant period during the 1980s. From the Volleyball World Cup in 1981 and 1985, to the FIVB Volleyball World Championship in 1982, 1984 and 1986, the Chinese women’s volleyball team was the first in the world to claim five successive global championships.

SERVING UP GLORY

Their 2016 achievement was one of the most impressive of the lot, because the team recovered from an extremely shaky start. They scraped through the group stage in fourth place, losing three of the five games, but took down hotly-tipped Brazil on their home turf in the quarter finals, seemingly reserving their best play for when it truly mattered.

Lang Ping, the head coach, did great work pushing the team forward and developing a young crop into title-clinching legends in front of the world. The Rio Olympic MVP was Zhu Ting, who made a high-profile move to Turkish volleyball team Vakifbank after the Games. 

Lang was one of the world’s ace spikers as a player in the 1980s, and was famous for her hammer-like smashes. She was part of the team that won gold at the 1984 Olympics. After retirement, she moved to the United States to pursue a Master’s degree in sports management at New Mexico State University. She then led China to silver in the 1996 Olympics and 1998 world championships, before taking charge of the US women’s volleyball team in 2005. During her tenure, the US beat China at the Beijing Olympics. But Lang later returned to her homeland as the national women’s team’s head coach, and with her at the helm, the team climbed to number one in the world according to FIVB rankings.

AUDIENCE SMASH HIT

Excitement in China about the Olympics was fervent, and the volleyball matches were watched by millions, with the latter games proving a refreshing highlight in a tournament in which Chinese athletes disappointed overall (the country finished third in the medals table, trailing the United States and Great Britain). The television broadcast of the final received a 70-percent national audience share, and the topic "Dream Team Chinese women's volleyball" received 390 million reads and 333,000 engagements on social media platform Sina Weibo. 

Questions for 2017

-Can Chinese players continue their success? Major tournaments next year include the World League and World Grand Prix.

-Will the stars’ Olympic glory inspire more members of the public to take to the volleyball court? China has low participation rates in sport, and in particular wants children to take more breaks from their text books for physical activity.

(Written by Li Yezi; Edited by John Goodrich and Nick Yates; Video edited by Mi Xue; and Room with a View produced by Zhang Dayu)