Lang Ping honored with IOC lifetime achievement award

From the arena to the cinema, and now at the Olympic House, Chinese volleyball legend Lang Ping's career is being celebrated once again, with the International Olympic Committee Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award being bestowed on her.

The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday that Lang, a former Chinese women's national team player and coach, had jointly won the 2025 edition of the prestigious award with Cuban wrestling coach Raul de Jesus Trujillo Diaz, becoming the first sportsperson from China to receive the honor.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry and Sergii Bubka, chair of the IOC Athletes' Entourage Commission, handed the awards to Lang and Trujillo Diaz during a ceremony at the Olympic House, the IOC headquarters, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"This award is a great honor," said the 64-year-old Lang, who earned the nickname "Iron Hammer" after leading the Chinese women's squad to a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as an ace spiker.

Thirty-two years after the feat, Lang proudly finished on the Olympic podium again, this time as head coach, after guiding Team China to victory at the Rio 2016 Olympic tournament, becoming the first person in history to win Olympic gold as both player and coach.

"I am deeply grateful to the IOC and the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) for recognizing my coaching work," said Lang, who guided the United States women's team to a silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Games and has coached at club levels in Italy and Turkiye as well.

"There are so many people to thank, from the brilliant teams and players I have coached in China, Italy and the US, to the coaches and mentors who shaped me as a player and as a person from my earliest days in the sport. This recognition belongs to all of them."

After helping Team China claim four consecutive world titles, including the 1981 world championships and 1984 Olympic gold, Lang retired as a player in 1985. She returned to the national program as a coach in 1995 and led the squad to finish with a silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics during her first stint with her home national team.

Her influence on the global stage, built with productive coaching roles in the US and Europe, earned her a place in the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Her journey with Team China's 2016 Rio Olympics campaign inspired one of China's bestselling sports-themed films, Leap, which premiered in September 2020 with renowned actress Gong Li portraying Lang on the big screen.

"Thank you for your commitment to your sports, to your athletes and their well-being for generations to come, because I know that, if I look at my coach, I will hopefully instill a lot of the lessons that she's taught me in my children," Coventry said while congratulating Lang and Trujillo Diaz.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn