3 .     1    . The legendary volleyball coach Lang Ping gave the answer in the recent documentary (纪录片) The Iron Hammer.

The documentary displays Lang’s inspiring journey from her gold medal victory as a volleyball player in the 1984 Olympics to her amazing career as a successful coach for both Team USA from 2005 to 2008 and China since 2013. She was the first person to win Olympic volleyball gold as a player and coach. Lang Ping revealed the secret to such remarkable achievements in the documentary. As she said, “    2    ”.

    3    . Troubled by severe injuries to her cervical vertebra, back, waist and knees, caused by intense exercise and hard work, the 60-year-old has undergone more than 10 surgeries. “No parts of my body function well,” she joked.

But illness is certainly not the only difficulty Lang has faced. In 2005, she struggled with balancing raising her daughter Lydia Bai Lang, who lived in the US, and her coaching career. She eventually decided to work for USA Volleyball that year.     4    “I’m proud of being Chinese”   Lang responded in an interview. Later she returned to head the Chinese women ’s volleyball team in 2013, leading the team successfully defending its World Cup crown with a perfect record of 11 straight wins last year.

There is no doubt that Lang is one of the greatest players and coaches in history. As an American athlete commented in the documentary,     5    .

4 . “Tennis一I'm saying goodbye." With these words, Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova, 32, has announced her retirement.

“How do you leave behind the only life you've ever known?" she asked herself. Several reasons played a role in Sharapova leaving the tennis court for good.

Over the last couple of years, she's dealt with an injury in her right shoulder and inflammation (炎症) in her forearms that may have prevented her from returning to top form. In more recent news, the death of her longtime friend, US basketball legend Kobe Bryant, also played a factor in her decision to retire.

“As I think you've seen throughout my career, my perseverance has been my greatest tool, my greatest strength," Sharapova said in an interview.“But I've started feeling like it was becoming a weakness, because the stubbornness that was keeping me going was keeping me going for wrong reasons."

Sharapova rose to fame at age 17 when she won Wimbledon in 2004. She won a total of four Grand Slam singles titles; the 2006 US Open, the 2008 Australian Open, and the 2012 and 2014 French Open. She also earned the Fed Cup title in Russia in 2008 and an Olympic silver medal in singles in 2012, among many other accomplishments. For 16 straight years from 2004, Sharapova was the world's highest-earning female athlete, according to Forbes. Off the court, she made millions of dollars from companies such as Evian and Nike, as well as starting her own candy company.

"Tennis showed me the world - - and it showed me what I was made of," Sharapova wrote on Facebook on Feb 26, alongside a photo of herself as a young girl with a tennis racquet, “It's how I tested myself and how I measured my growth. And so in whatever I might choose for my next chapter, my next mountain, I’ll still be pushing. I'll still be climbing. I'll still be growing.”

5 . What makes one a great person? The legendary volleyball coach Lang Ping gave the answer in the recent documentary The Iron Hammer, titled after her nickname for her powerful strikes.

The documentary features Lang' s inspiring journey from her gold medal victory as a volleyball player in the 1984 Olympics to her unparalleled(无可比拟的）career as a successful coach for both Team USA from 2005 to 2008 and China since 2013.She led the US to a silver medal finish and China to a gold medal triumph in the 2008 and 2016 Olympic Games, making her the first person to win Olympic volleyball gold as a player and coach.

Lang Ping revealed the secret to such remarkable achievements in the documentary. “I believe volleyball was my destiny," she said.

But glory and challenges go hand in hand. Troubled by severe injuries to her cervical vertebra(颈椎），back, waist and knees, caused by intense exercise and hard work, the 60-year-old has undergone more than 10 surgeries. “No parts of my body function well," she joked.

But illness is certainly not the only difficulty Lang has faced throughout her career. In 2005, she struggled with balancing raising her daughter Lydia Bai Lang, who lived in the US, and her coaching career, according to China Sports Daily. She eventually decided to work for USA Volleyball that year and this decision aroused a lot of negative comments back in China.

“I'm proud of being Chinese.” Lang responded in an interview.Later,she returned to head the Chinese women 's volleyball team in 2013, leading the team successfully defending its World Cup crown with a perfect record of 11 straight wins last year.

There is no doubt that Lang is one of the greatest players and coaches in history. As an athlete commented in the documentary, “Lang Ping is like Michael Jordan in our minds.”