Other successful Chinese coaches working overseas

Lang Ping (volleyball)

Lang has arguably the highest profile of any overseas Chinese coach.

The 46-year-old former women's volleyball player and coach is now managing Team USA, China's main rival in the Beijing Olympics.

Known as one of the most dominant volleyball players in the 1980s, Lang, known as "The Iron Hammer" because of her killer spikes, led the Chinese women's team to gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 1982 World Championships, and 1981 and 1985 Volleyball World Cups.

Lang went on to coach China's women's team to silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1998 World Women's Volleyball Championships, before leading Italy's Novara Club to the league and Cup titles last year.

Wang Dayong (table tennis)

Wang was once jokingly referred to as an "Enemy of the Nation" since his tutelage helped Belgian table tennis star Jean-Michel Saive develop into one of China's toughest opponents in the 1990s.

The highlight of Wang's career came in 2001 when he led the Belgium team into the final of the men's team event at the World Championships in Osaka. Saive, Belgium's top paddler, beat Chinese ping-pong giants Kong Linghui and Ma Lin to become the No 2 player on the International Table Tennis Rankings in the same year. It is the highest ranking ever achieved by a Belgian player.

Tong Hui (diving)

Tong is the head coach of the Australian diving team.

As a former athlete on the Chinese national team, which won gold in the 1985 and 1987 FINA Diving World Cup platform events and finished fourth in the platform event at the 1984 Olympics, Tong dove into coaching. He was the National Team coach and an assistant for the National Training Center (Junior Development) in Beijing between 1987 and 1990. He moved to Canada, where he eventually became the head coach for Dive Calgary Sports Society for a decade. In 2001, he joined the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Diving program.

(China Daily 10/31/2007 page22)