Lang Ping, the beloved hero who once helped China capture the Olympic gold, is now coaching the U.S. team. But domestic fans' love for her has gone beyond the Chinese border to greet the American players.
"Many thanks to the audience. It was a pity that I couldn't step up on the court and play for them," Lang said on Monday, after her team lost 0-3 to Cuba.
Before the Beijing Games opened on Friday night, Olympics organizers had worried that some Chinese fans might not know when to cheer, or might even boo athletes from some countries and regions that they don't like.
Three weeks before the Olympics opening, Beijing Games organizers published a set of dos and don'ts for the Olympic spectators, who are told to avoid taking drums, whistles, umbrella or walkie-talkie into the competition venues, or blocking others' sight by standing for too long in the stands.
Beijing has also mobilized large crowds of volunteers, mostly college students and office workers, as cheerleaders to pep up athletes and activate the probably silent audience.
Meanwhile, the clean-up of uncouth behaviors such as booing and use of dirty words by the audience, as well as spitting and littering, started years before the Games are really here.
"I think the spectators were quite polite, with no one swearing or booing," said Du Huajie, a Beijinger who also watched Tuesday's volleyball game between Italy and the United States.
As the competition heated up, Du said the crowd became wild and applauses seemed to be loud enough to have the ceiling of the 20,000-seat Capital Gymnasium lifted. "It's incredible to see my father, a serious-looking professor, yelling and waving his arms with the fans. So it's the Games that matter, not just the medals."
When China's gold hopeful, Athens Games defending champion Zhu Qinan wept on the podium after a narrow defeat by India's Abhinav Bindra in men's 10m air rifle on Monday, his fans left him messages on the Internet, calling him a hero.
In 1988, when China's gymnastic legend Li Ning -- who lit the cauldron of the Beijing Games last Friday -- returned home from Seoul with empty hands, he received piles of letters from his fans, all blaming him for failing to win a medal for his country.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)