How it unfolded
The Eastern Bloc boycott had removed the Soviet Union and Cuba from the tournament, but China and the United States were the two best teams in the world regardless of that absence. China had already won the 1981 World Cup and 1982 World Championship. Yet on August 3, in pool play, China lost to the United States 1-3. Having surrendered first place in the group, China beat Japan 3-0 in the semifinal and faced the Americans again in the final. Coach Yuan Weimin made a simple adjustment, tightening the receive formation and funneling the offense through Lang Ping. The first set decided the match. A tight battle tied at 14-14 tipped China's way at 16-14, and the American receive fell apart afterward; the second set finished a lopsided 15-3, the third 15-9. China had avenged its pool-play loss with a 3-0 sweep in the final. Lang Ping, known as the 'Iron Hammer,' was named tournament MVP.
Why it still matters
This match sits at the center of China's 'Five Consecutive Championships' run from 1981 to 1986, and it was a moment when sport came to represent national sentiment in early reform-era China. Thirty-two years later, when Lang Ping returned as head coach to win gold again at Rio in 2016, this match became the starting point for the only person ever to win Olympic gold as both a player and a head coach.