From apprenticeship to partner, Lang Ping and Lai Yawen have become the women’s volleyball story. Missing the world championship is the biggest regret

For the Chinese women's volleyball team, Lang Ping's brand is the deepest. He has witnessed the development of the Chinese women's volleyball team for more than 30 years from being an athlete to becoming the head coach twice. After Lang Ping, there is such a pivotal figure. She has also accompanied the Chinese women's volleyball team for more than 20 years, from the age of athletes to the age of coaches. Now she still fights side by side with Lang Ping and continues to fight for the Chinese women's volleyball team in the new era. . She is Lai Yawen, the current deputy director of the Volleyball Management Center of the State Sports General Administration and the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team. In the women's volleyball team, the players are more willing to call her "the big sister".

Born in Liaoning in 1970, Lai Yawen began to practice volleyball. In 1982, he joined the Liaoning Youth Team. At the age of 15, he joined the Liaoning Women’s Volleyball Team. At the age of 17, he joined the National Youth Team. In 1989, he officially became a member of the national team and began to play with the team. The competition, this stay is 10 years, Lai Yawen's most golden career has been dedicated to the Chinese women's volleyball team, since 1993, she has led the team as the captain. In 1995, Lang Ping became the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team. Lai Yawen and Lang Ping began to become intimate masters and apprentices, and together they were able to overcome difficulties in the World Series.

For Lai Yawen in the athlete era, she has won almost all the championships she can win in Asia, winning two Asian Games championships in 1990 and 1998, in addition to four Asian championships. But in the World Series, she was not so lucky. From the third runner-up in the 1989 World Cup to the runner-up in the 1990 World Championship, to the runner-up in the 1991 World Cup, and after Lang Ping took office, she was runner-up in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and runner-up in the 1998 Women's Volleyball World Championship. , Lai Yawen became a veritable "Uncrowned King". After finishing the 1998 World Championships, Lai Yawen retired with regret, and then transformed into a coach, and since 1999 he has become an assistant coach of the national team.

Because of his deep love for women’s volleyball, Lai Yawen, who changed his role, continued to advance and retreat with the Chinese women’s volleyball team. He went through Hu Jin, Chen Zhonghe, Cai Bin, Yu Juemin, and now the Chinese women’s volleyball team in the Lang Ping era. Three World Cup champions in 2015 and 2019, plus two Olympic champions in 2004 and 2016. The wishes and dreams that were unfulfilled in the era of athletes finally came true in the era of coaches and team leaders. On February 14, 2017, she assumed the post of Deputy Director of the Volleyball Management Center of the State Sports General Administration. On August 15, 2019, Lai Yawen once again served as the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team, accompanying his best Lang Ping to continue the campaign.

Lai Yawen's feelings for the Chinese women's volleyball team can be said to be "a woman married to volleyball". Her life, like Lang Ping, is destined to be dedicated to the Chinese women's volleyball team. The 30-year deep relationship between the two has also become a story in Chinese volleyball and even the world. For the Tokyo Olympics, they will still be the strongest backing for the Chinese women's volleyball team and win glory for the country.