HEAD held high as she took the court moments after her Chinese team entered the arena, Jenny Lang Ping waved and smiled in several directions then paced around the floor observing China’s championship opponent from Serbia.

    She proudly sang through the national anthem, then guided her team to a come-from-behind gold — and made her own history, too.

    Lang became the first person to win volleyball gold as a coach and player, her China team rallying from one-set down to defeat the upstart Serbians 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 Saturday night at Rio Olympics, which will close this morning Beijing Time.

    “It’s not important to me to make history,’’ Lang said. “I’m so happy for the young girls, they trained very hard.’’

    Early on in this tournament, Lang — who captured an Olympic title with the 1984 Chinese national team in Los Angeles and later spent a four-year stint coaching the Americans — challenged her players to find ways to grow from their struggles with the world watching.

    All along, Lang believed her emotional China players had the talent and determination to compete with the top programs in the world.

    China took a 23-22 lead in the fourth set when Zhu Ting’s kill sent Maja Ognjenovic to the floor with a hard ball to the face, and the match was over shortly thereafter.

    When the Chinese squad lost its Olympic opener in five sets to the Netherlands back Aug. 6, Lang challenged her players: to learn, to support one another through the ups and downs, to grow from each defeat, and triumph on the pressure-packed Olympic stage.

    China responded, and seemed to play better when the moments got bigger.

    Lang’s group of women found its top level of volleyball over the recent days in Rio de Janeiro and spoiled things for a volleyball-crazed country in the process. China took down the two-time defending Olympic champion Brazilian women on their home turf in Tuesday’s quarterfinals to show this team had arrived — and, until Saturday, that had been China’s shining moment.

    China climbed to the top of the podium for the third time in the history of volleyball at the Olympic Games and first since Athens 2004. They also won the gold medal in Los Angeles 1984, a silver medal in Atlanta 1996 and bronze medals in Seoul 1988 and also at home in Beijing 2008.(SD-Agencies)