As a player, Lang Ping brought honour and     1     to her country. As a coach, she led the China women’s volleyball team to     2     at world championships and the Olympics. As a person, Lang Ping is loved by fans     3         4         5         6    . When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her determination was     7    . The team that Lang ping had built was     8         9    . One of the best players had been     10    , and the team captain had to leave     11         12     heart problems. Losing two important players was a big     13    , but Lang Ping did not     14         15    . She had faced difficulties before, and she knew that her young players could win if they     16         17     as a team. Two weeks later, they were world champions! Then in 2016, Lang Ping led her volleyball team to Olympic gold in Brazil.

My Role Model

6 . Snowboarding genius Su Yiming made a name for himself by winning China’s first Olympic gold in the sport on Tuesday. By cleanly stomping back-to-back 1800 tricks, the teenager landed the biggest prize so far in his young career—gold in the men’s Big Air at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The notable achievement realized a childhood dream to reach the peak of the sport, which he began to learn at the age of 4.

Now with two shinning medals hung around his neck, the 17-year-old described his superb Olympic debut ( 首秀) as an unbelievable experience that has made all his sacrifices worthwhile. “This feels so surreal that I’ve finally accomplished what I’ve dreamed of since I was little,” said an emotional Su.

Over the past four years, Su has combined his talent with hard work to produce one of the swiftest rises to prominence the sport has ever seen. When the Shougang Big Air venue hosted its first international event, Su was an unknown qualifier, who didn’t even make the final runs. Just over two years later, Su is the name on everyone’s lips at the venue’s Olympic debut—drawing the whole nation’s attention to the sport he loves.

“The biggest motivation (动力) for me is my love for snowboarding,” Su said, when asked about the secret to his success. “In snowboarding, I feel like I can show my own style and creativity. Every time I ride my board, it’s always a joyful moment. I hope through my experience, I can inspire more young people to get interested in the sport.”

Su, a former child actor who featured in action movies, said the Olympic gold will encourage him to seek for more breakthroughs—even beyond his athletic career. “I enjoy snowboarding just as much as I enjoy acting,” said Su, who turns 18 on Friday. “I think I still have a lot of possibilities to explore in my future career either in snowboarding or in acting. But now I just want to enjoy the moment and celebrate it as the best possible birthday gift.”

9 . The 71^st annual Boston Marathon was held on April 19, 1967. This day was filled with freezing rain, snow and strong winds. However, for one runner named Kathrine Switzer, the weather conditions were the least of her worries. Kathrine was the first and only registered female runner in the marathon and she wanted to prove (证明) something.

The first few miles were a piece of cake for Kathrine. Then around mile four, she realized someone was going after her. She turned around and was startled to see an angry face just inches away. It was the race director (赛事总监), Jock Semple.

“Get out of my race and give me those numbers!” Jock shouted. As he said this, he caught hold of Kathrine’s arm and tried pulling her race numbers off her sweatshirt. Although Kathrine was so shocked and terrified, she struggled to break free.

Kathrine felt awful. She thought about quitting, but soon she knew that wasn’t a choice. “If I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the ability to run 26-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would say it was a show. If I quit, it would set women’s sports back, way back, instead of forward.”

While all this thinking was going on, Kathrine continued, until she found herself nearing the finish line. Although several reporters were waiting there, none of them cheered. Kathrine completed the race in a time of 4 hours and 20 minutes. The race was over, but her determination to change was just beginning.

She played a major part in getting women officially accepted into the Boston marathon in 1972. Her effort also opened up marathon in Olympic Games for women. Her number 261 on that historic day in Boston has also become a symbol of fearlessness for millions of women worldwide.

10 . Jim Thorpe is one of the greatest athletes of all time. He had amazing athletic abilities and was well-known during his lifetime, yet that did not make Thorpe a stranger to adversity.

Thorpe was an American Indian from Oklahoma who developed his extraordinary athletic skills in his youth through hard labor. It was also in his youth that he learned to endure hardship brought upon by racial prejudice. Many would say his childhood was not easy. He grew up poor and at age 9 his twin brother passed away and a few years later he lost both of his parents.

But that did not stop him from doing what he loved and pursuing his dreams. Nothing seemed to stop him, not even stolen shoes. Just hours before Thorpe was going to compete in the 1912 Olympics, somebody stole his shoes. Thorpe improvised (临时拼凑) by getting shoes out of the garbage. The shoes were two different sizes. He wore an extra pair of socks on one foot to even them out.

He still went on to win two gold medals—winning each event he competed in except for one, the javelin (标枪). The javelin was the only event he didn’t win, probably because he had never competed in that event before. It is interesting to note that Thorpe had tried to throw the javelin once before in the Olympic trials. At the time, he didn’t know that he could throw it with a running start. He threw it standing still and was placed second.

At the Olympics，he also took part in the decathlon (十项全能运动). He finished first in two events, third in four events, and fourth in two more. Thorpe ended up finishing third in the world. He was undoubtedly a dominating force that couldn’t be stopped and just kept on going.

I think Paul Dughi said it best, “It’s hard to imagine now that pro athletes get paid millions of dollars just to wear a particular brand of shoes. For Jim Thorpe, it didn’t matter what kind he wore.”