As emotional as they always are, the American women celebrated their historic return to the Olympic final in 24 years on Thursday afternoon with big smiles on the tearful faces.
US head coach Lang Ping talks to her players Stacy Sykora (L) and Kim Willoughby in this August 17, 2008 file photo. [Agencies] |
No wonder they were unable to control the emotions, as the last time the United States contented for an Olympic gold was in 1984, where they surrendered the championship at the home court of Los Angeles to China, just led by their current head coach "Iron Hammer" Lang Ping.
It only took the Americans 67 minutes to accomplish their sweet revenge 25-20, 25-16 and 25-17 for a straight-set loss to Cuba in the preliminaries. The American opposite Tayyiba Haneef-Park led all players with 12 points.
"I am happy for myself, but I'm happier for the players. They deserve it. They've worked hard for three or four years and cooperated well," said Lang, who was described by US player Logan Tom as "squeaking like a little girl" after the surprising 3-0 win.
"When we played Cuba, we lost in straight sets, but we never won in straight sets. But today when I was sitting on bench, I didn't have any worries - especially the older players, they did a fantastic job," said Lang.
Kim Willoughby, Lang's "great substitution" who scored decisive points with high-jump spikes in the match, attributed the win to the "unity" of the team.
"We watched videos of the first match (against Cuba) and we said 'Hey, how can we played in such a flat way.' So, today, we came back and we played as team, as one," she said.
Just steps away from the ecstatic American team, misty eyes could also be seen on the stern faces of Cuban players.
Four-time Olympian Yumilka Ruiz hid her sorrows behind a white towel, while wing spiker Nancy Carrillo scrunched up her face and rubbed her hand over the eyes.
