Lang Ping Facts for Kids

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lang.

Quick facts for kids

Lang Ping

Personal information

Nickname

Iron Hammer (铁榔头/鐵榔頭)

Born

10 December 1960 (age 64)
Tianjin, China

Hometown

Tianjin, China

Height

1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)

Weight

71 kg (157 lb)

College(s)

Beijing Normal University
University of New Mexico

Volleyball information

Position

Outside hitter

Number

National team

1978–1985, 1990

China

Honours

Women's volleyball

Representing China
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	Team
World Championship
Gold	1982 Peru
Silver	1990 China	Team
FIVB World Cup
Gold	1981 Japan
Gold	1985 Japan
Goodwill Games
Silver	1990 Seattle
Summer Universiade
Gold	1981 Bucharest
Asian Games
Gold	1982 New Delhi	Team
Silver	1978 Bangkok	Team

Lang Ping (born 10 December 1960) is a famous Chinese former volleyball player and coach. She is often called "Jenny" and is known as the "Iron Hammer". Lang Ping used to be the main coach for both the Chinese women's national volleyball team and the U.S. women's national volleyball team.

As a player, Lang Ping was amazing. She won the award for the most valuable player in women's volleyball at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 2002, she was honored by being added to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Lang Ping also made history as a coach. She led the U.S. women's team to a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Later, she coached the Chinese women's team to a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. This made her the first person ever in volleyball to win Olympic gold both as a player and as a coach!

Lang Ping's life story was even made into a movie called Leap in 2020. The famous actress Gong Li played her in the film.

About Lang Ping's Life
Lang Ping's Volleyball Career
Awards and Medals
- Individual Awards
- National Team Medals
See also

About Lang Ping's Life

Lang Ping was born in Tianjin, China. She was married to Bai Fan, who was a handball player, from 1987 to 1995. They had a daughter named Lydia Lang Bai in 1992. Lydia also played volleyball for Stanford University. She even played a younger version of her mom, Lang Ping, in the movie Leap. Lang Ping is now married to Wang Yucheng, who is a professor.

In 1987, Lang Ping moved to Los Angeles with Bai Fan. She wanted to study and also work as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of New Mexico. She said she wanted to "taste a normal life" away from the spotlight. Even though she has lived in the U.S. for many years, she is still a Chinese citizen.

Lang Ping's Volleyball Career

Lang Ping earned the nickname "Iron Hammer" because of her powerful playing style. She was a key player on the Chinese national team. This team won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, beating the United States.

Playing Achievements

Lang Ping and her team also won the World Championship in 1982 in Peru. They won the World Cup titles in 1981 and 1985 in Japan. In 1985, she was the captain of the World Cup team and was named the most valuable player of that tournament. The Chinese women's volleyball team won many World Championships during her time as a player. Lang Ping was known as the star outside hitter. She was recognized as one of China's Top Ten Athletes every year from 1981 to 1986.

Her Impact in China

Because of her important role in the success of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the 1980s, Lang Ping became a huge cultural hero. She is one of the most respected people in modern Chinese sports history. Many remember Lang Ping as one of the first world champions for China.

Coaching Journey

Lang Ping started her coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico from 1987–89 and again from 1992–93.

In 1995, she became the head coach of the Chinese national team. She led the team to a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. They also got second place at the 1998 World Championships in Japan. Lang Ping left the Chinese national team in 1998 due to health reasons. The next year, she coached in the Italian professional volleyball league. She was very successful there, winning many awards and being named coach of the year multiple times. She was also chosen as the 1996 FIVB Coach of the Year.

Coaching the U.S. Team

In 2005, Lang Ping became the coach of the U.S. National Team. She led them to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, her home country. In a very exciting match, the U.S. team beat China 3–2. Both the Chinese and U.S. presidents, Hu Jintao and George W. Bush, watched this game. About 250 million people in China alone watched it on TV! The U.S. team went on to win the silver medal, losing to Brazil in the finals. Lang Ping decided not to renew her contract that year. She wanted to coach a club team so she could spend more time with her family.

Return to China's Team

She became the head coach of the China women's national volleyball team for the second time in 2013. She led them to win the World Cup in Japan in 2015. In 2014, she was the only female head coach among the 24 teams at the FIVB World Championship.

On August 21, 2016, Lang Ping guided the Chinese national team to the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This victory made her the first person in volleyball history to win an Olympic gold medal both as a player (in 1984) and as a coach (in 2016). On September 29, 2019, China won all eleven matches to defend their World Cup title. With this, Lang Ping also became the first person to win back-to-back World Cup championships both as a player (1981, 1985) and as a coach (2015, 2019).

Teams Lang Ping Coached

Club/Team	Country	Year
Chinese NT	China	1995 - 1998
Volley Modena	Italy	1999 - 2002
Asystel Novara	Italy	2002 - 2004
Pieralisi Jesi	Italy	2005
USA NT	United States	2005 - 2008
Telecom Ankara	Turkey	2008 - 2009
Guangdong Evergrande	China	2009 - 2014
Chinese NT	China	2013–2021