Exult in the spirit not the win

By beating the Serbian team in the Rio Olympics' volleyball final on Sunday, the Chinese women's team grabbed perhaps the last gold medal for the country. But equally importantly, the team regained the spirit to strive for higher goals despite oddssimilar to the Olympic motto of faster, higher and strongerwhich many believe had been lacking for quite some time.

Although this is the second Olympic triumph of the Chinese women's volleyball team in 12 years, not since the 1980s has the country as one celebrated the courage, perseverance and tenacity of Chinese women volleyball playersduring a fateful five years they won the gold in all major world competitions, including the Olympic Games.

What was then called the women volleyball players' spirit extended far beyond the sphere of sports. Because of the women players' endurance and fighting spirit, Chinese people started believing their country could catch up with its developed counterparts in many ways in the near future. And such a spirit and belief helped make China the world's second-largest economy through three decades of rapid economic development.