(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-13 16:25

BEIJING - Former Chinese national coach Yuan Weimin has been enshrined to the Volleyball Hall of Fame, according to "Jenny" Lang Ping, current head coach of US women's volleyball team.

 

"Yuan Weimin is our national hero," Lang said during a telephone interview with Xinhua on Saturday.

"Under his coaching, the Chinese women's volleyball team captured golds at the World Cup in 1981, the World Championship in 1982, and the Olympic Games in 1984.

"Furthermore, the achievement made by his team at the international sports arena during the early 1980s, gave then Chinese people courage and confidence to open the door to the outside world, and to pursue glory on international platform," added Lang.

Known as "The Iron Hammer", Lang played a pivotal role in Yuan's team during the World Cup in 1981, the World Championship in 1982 and the Olympics in 1984. She was named head coach of the US women's team in 2005.

"Yuan became my coach when I was 18 years old. Without him, it is hard to imagine that I could make such an achievement in international volleyball," said Lang, the first Chinese to be honored by the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Six volleyball greats were inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame on July 17 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the birth place of volleyball.

Along with Yuan, the other five inductees are Bob Ctvrtlik of the United States, Kerri Pottharst of Australia, Andrea Gardini of Italy, Dimitar Zlatanov of Bulgaria and Carlos Nuzman of Brazil.

All but Yuan attended the enshrinement ceremony at Holyoke on Thursday local time. The 68-year-old Yuan, who cited health reason for absence, asked Lang to represent him at the ceremony.

Ctvrtlik was a three-time Olympian for the US men's indoor national team. He was instrumental in propelling the Americans past the then Soviet team to capture gold at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He later captained the US team that won bronze in Barcelona 1992. Ctvrtlik is credited with improving the team's world ranking from 15th to 4th within a mere 10 months of his return.

Australia's most decorated indoor and beach player, Pottharst, grabbed gold in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. One of Australia's most popular sports heroes, Pottharst and her partner, Natalie Cook, were selected as one of the two "Best Women's Beach Volleyball Teams of the Last Decade (1990 - 2000)" by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) as a part of its "20th Century Best" Awards.

Gardini, a key component of the FIVB-crowned "Best Volleyball Team of the 20th Century," was a tough, effective and popular middle blocker for the "Squadra Azzurrini." Few teams in the world of sport have been as dominant as the Italian Men's Volleyball Team in the 1990s. Gardini and the Italian team were the first ever to win three consecutive World Championship titles (1990, 1994 and 1998). His team dominated world league play in the 1990s by taking the title eight times between 1990 and 2000.

Zlatanov defined volleyball in Bulgaria for a generation. Along with Gardini, Zlatanov was one of the 25 candidates for the best players of the 20th century selected by the FIVB. He was one of the great all-round players, as his abilities at every part of the game set him apart from most of his peers. Zlatanov earned a silver medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee since 1995, Carlos Arthur Nuzman began his career as an athlete. He played volleyball with the Brazilian team for two World Championships (1962, 1966) and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Nuzman was the president of the Brazilian Volleyball Federation from 1975 to 1995, an era of many victories for Brazilian men's volleyball. During that time, Brazil won first place at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and was the champion of the 1993 World League.

William G. Morgan, inventor of volleyball at the Holyoke YMCA in 1895, was honored posthumously as first inductee of Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1985.

In 2004, Yuan retired as the chief of China's State General Administration of Sport. During his directorship, Chinese Olympians finished third place with 28 gold medals in Sydney 2000 and second place with 32 golds in Athens 2004.