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Leading the United States women's volleyball team back to her hometown for the Beijing Games,Chinese coach Jenny Lang Ping felt at home
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Leading the United States women's volleyball team back to her hometown for the Beijing Games, Chinese coach Jenny Lang Ping felt at home.
"I am under no pressure at all, I just feel at home," said the 47-year-old former Olympic champion at a press conference on Tuesday.
Three years and a half after first taking the helm of the American team, Lang and her fans have become more comfortable with the fact that the volleyball heroine will coach against China at the first Olympic Games to be held on her homeland.
"The Chinese fans have become more considerate, right now there are a lot of foreign coaches with Chinese teams," Lang said. "For me, it's a great honor to coach the American team because the United States is very strong in sports."
"If I can give my knowledge to the team and make it better, it will be a great thing," she added.
Next Friday, the United States will play against defending Olympic champion China in a preliminary group match of the Olympic volleyball tournament which is considered as a contest between Lang Ping and her former assistant Chen Zhonghe.
"I can imagine a full capacity 18,000 fans cheering for China," Lang Ping said. "I just hope that we can entertain the fans with an exciting game."
"As a coach, of course I want my team to take the victory, and I think the team which plays better will win. For myself, I will just concentrate on my coaching and hopefully the players can hear me in the roaring voice of home fans."
Lang Ping, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games with the Chinese team as a player before leading them to the silver as a coach at the 1996 Atlanta Games, is the only woman volleyball coach at the Beijing Games. She is also joining former Hungary coach Gabriella Kotsis as one of only two women volleyball coaches to lead teams at multiple Olympics.
"It's very special experience for me to coach at two Olympics," Lang said. "I think many of my former teammates have the ability to do that, but I am just lucky."
On her way to a third Olympics in 24 years, Lang enjoyed this Games much better than the previous two.
"I was under great pressure for my last two Games, but this time I feel much better and I really enjoy everyday with the team," she said. "Maybe it's because I have become more mature after 12 years, maybe it's because I have learned how to deal with pressure."
"The Olympics is just a big party and the Olympics is the Olympics of the world. Let's enjoy ourselves."
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(Xinhua)
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率領美國女子排球隊回到祖國參加北京奧運會，郎平感覺就像回家一樣。
這位47歲的前奧運冠軍在本周二的一次新聞發布會上說：“我一點壓力都沒有，覺得就是回家了。”
執掌美國隊三年半之后，郎平和她的球迷已經能夠接受她將在祖國首次舉辦的奧運會上對陣中國隊這一事實了。
郎平說：“中國球迷比原來寬容了許多，現在中國隊也有很多外國教練，對我來說，能夠執教美國的球隊，我感到非常驕傲。美國是一個體育強國。”
她還說：“如果我的經驗能夠幫助美國隊提高自己的水平，那將是非常美妙的事情。”
下周五，美國隊將在奧運排球比賽的小組淘汰賽中對陣衛冕冠軍的中國隊，而這場比賽也被視為郎平和她的前助手陳忠和之間的一場對決。
郎平說：“我能想象得到全場18000名球迷全部為中國隊加油的場景，我只是希望我們能為球迷奉獻一場精彩的比賽。”
“作為一名教練，我當然希望我的隊伍獲勝，我知道打得好的隊伍才會贏。就我個人而言，我只會專注于我的教練職責，希望在國內球迷巨大的加油聲中，我的隊員能聽到我的指揮。”
作為中國女排的一員，郎平與隊友在1984年獲得第23屆洛杉磯奧運會的金牌，之后的1996年亞特蘭大奧運會上，她以中國隊教練的身份率隊出征并摘得一枚銀牌。她是北京奧運會上唯一一名排球女教練。她也是僅有的兩名不止一次帶隊參加奧運會的排球女教練之一，另一位是前匈牙利的加布里拉?柯迪斯。
郎平說：“執教兩屆奧運會對我來說是很特別的經歷，我覺得我的很多老隊友都有這個能力，只是我比較幸運罷了。”
對于24年里即將參加的第三次奧運會，郎平這一次的感覺要遠遠好于前兩次。
她說：“在上兩次奧運會上，我感覺壓力很大，但這次我感覺好多了，和隊員在一起的每一天都很開心。或許是因為在過去的12年里我更成熟了，也可能是因為我已經學會了怎樣面對壓力。”
“奧運會只是一次大型的聚會，同時也是全世界的奧運會。大家一起好好享受奧運吧。”
（實習生屈上 英語點津Helen編輯） |
