Joan Chen’s Lang Ping film screens free before moving to Olympic Channel
- Volleyball star is only person to have won Olympic gold as player and coach with victories at Los Angeles 1984 and Rio 2016
- Documentary comes ahead of dramatisation of life story, which included controversy of coaching US in Beijing, starring Gong Li
Lang, 59, was part of the Chinese women’s volleyball team that won gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the country’s first major international sporting breakthrough and made her a star back home.
Her legacy was secured as she later coached China’s women to gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 becoming the first and only person to win Olympic volleyball gold as a player and coach.
We Are One, which is co-organised by 21 of the world’s biggest film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, the British Film Institute and Macau.
More than 100 films from 35 countries will be shown for free on YouTube between May 29 and June 7, with The Iron Hammer one of the final films. Viewers can watch it from 4.30pm Eastern Standard Time (4.30am Monday, Hong Kong Time).
Chinese social media: why no Lang Ping ban after player’s doping violation?
Viewers have been asked to donate to the WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund, which has raised more than US$11,000 so far. The film is presented by the Olympic Channel and it will stream there for free later in the year.
That was her second silver as head coach after finishing second with China in Atlanta in 1996, before going one better in Rio with the help of star player Zhu Ting. Victory in Rio followed the 2015 World Cup win, which the China team defended last year. She was also named the FIVB coach of the year in 1996.
Lang’s career highlights as a player included gold at the 1982 World Championship and World Cup wins in both 1981 and 1985. She was named MVP at the 1984 Olympics as well as the 1982 worlds and 1985 World Cup and is the only person to win back-to-back World Cups as a player and coach.
The China team was preparing to defend their Olympic gold in Tokyo this summer before the Games were postponed until next year in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Mulan star Gong Li to play volleyball legend Lang Ping in new movie
