Hero's welcome for volleyball star Lang Ping

BEIJING — She and her teammates started this very different kind of revolution in China. They won a gold medal and turned a country wild for sports.

In 1984 in Los Angeles, when the Soviet Union boycotted the Summer Olympics, China came.

And in women's volleyball, China won.

The star of that team was a tall, ferocious, charismatic player named Lang Ping, a killer in volleyball's best sense of the word.

China rolled through Los Angeles on the way to gold and, when it came home, the players were treated like conquering warriors. That win opened a country's eyes to the possibilities of sport.

"I was surprised after we won that people were so excited," Lang said this week, answering questions in both English and Chinese in a large auditorium in the Main Press Center. "It was a huge thing that happened in China. It was like a dream. At that time China wasn't an open door to the world. But since then the Chinese people believe that we can do well. And not just in sports.

"I think it gave the people confidence to have a better life. To connect with the rest of the world. I think that was more meaningful. Not just our success on the volleyball court."

Lang was the harbinger of hooper Yao Ming, the pioneer who cleared a path for gold-medal diver Guo Jingjing.

She was a significant part of the beginning of an athletic movement that is so profound, this country's heart practically will stop beating for the 10 seconds Liu Xiang runs in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles.

The Olympics are in Beijing, in large part because of the success of that volleyball team.

Lang was its star. She was Tiger Woods before there was a Tiger Woods. She was Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan rolled into one. Her wedding was broadcast on national television and she was awarded her own postage stamp.

"Everybody here knows who she is," said Nicole Davis, a U.S. national team member since 2004. "She is such an historical figure in this country and I think that's a beautiful thing."

And until we have the 50-cent Tiger stamp, you can say Lang has out Tiger'ed Woods.

Even 24 years later. Even though she has been the United States women's volleyball coach for the past four years, Lang, whose American nickname is Jenny, remains one of China's most beloved figures.

Davis remembers a match played in the World Grand Prix in China against China in 2005. Lang's picture was on billboards around the arena. And, up in the cheap seats, Chinese fans were holding cards with Lang's picture and cheering for the U.S.

"That was a remarkable thing," Davis said. "Chinese people supporting our country. Supporting us.

"There have been times when we've had to be her bodyguards. People here just want to touch her. Mothers have thrown their babies at her. They just want to be near her. There's no parallel to that. Not Michael Jordan. Not anybody. I think the way she's respected here is extremely unique."

Since that Olympic win in Los Angeles, since that national celebration that bubbled China's competitive juices, the peripatetic Lang has become the world's volleyball coach.

In an Olympics where U.S. women's basketball coach Anne Donovan has called U.S. citizen Becky Hammon a traitor for playing on the Russian team, it is refreshing to see China still react with love toward Lang.

"Sports is not war," Lang said. "I don't like the term war. It's not a good word."

After her retirement from competition, Lang coached China to a silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and coached six seasons in the Italian professional league.

Now she is coming home with a very different team, in a very familiar setting. Her U.S. team is ranked fourth in the world.

"This is a very unique Olympic Games for me because I'm different now," Lang said. "I feel back home. I don't feel there's any pressure on me. Maybe it's because I'm home, or maybe because I'm more mature. I feel like I can enjoy the Games and enjoy the process more, not just the results."

These next two-and-a-half weeks are a tribute to the power of sports and the force of Lang's personality.

China has emerged as a sporting power. It is a player in the world. And Jenny Lang Ping is the player who helped start the revolution.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com