Spirit of endurance matters, so does skill

With the Chinese women's volleyball team grabbing the 26th and last Olympic gold for the country in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, "the spirit of the Chinese women's volleyball team" seems to have become a favorite term for many. There is also a debate raging over the connotations of the term and its relevance to the development of sports and a wider range of areas.

The easiest but not very unconvincing interpretation would be to link the perseverance of the volleyball players to patriotism in order to make Chinese youths more patriotic.

It is also natural for some to say this triumph is the continuation of the fighting spirit shown by the women's volleyball team in the 1980s, when for five consecutive years it swept all the major world competitions, including the Olympics. That reign not only boosted the development of sports in China, but also instilled in the majority of Chinese a sense of national pride.