Thanks, foreign coaches

The most illustrative case of how global sports has become is Lang Ping. Once China's favorite spiker on the national women's volleyball team, she is now the coach of the US women's volleyball team and helped it win a silver medal.

When she brought her team to Beijing, her homeland fans rallied behind her and ridiculed the few critics who suggested on nationalistic grounds, that she should not be giving her expertise in service to a foreign country.

"So what, aren't we hosting the Olympics?" people asked.