How it unfolded
China finished pool play at 2-3, scraping into the quarterfinals as fourth in Group B. Their first knockout opponent was host and two-time defending champion Brazil, and China silenced a full house 25-15, 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13 in a five-set win. After beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the semifinal, China faced Serbia in the final, opening shakily again by dropping the first set 19-25. Coach Lang Ping went back to a simple fix: stabilize the receive and funnel the offense through Zhu Ting. China regained control with a 25-17 second set, then won two consecutive tight sets, 25-22 and 25-23. Late in the final set, Serbian opposite Tijana Boskovic and Zhu Ting traded points in an attacking duel that Zhu ultimately won. Zhu Ting was named tournament MVP.
Why it still matters
This is a case of a team that squeaked through pool play in fourth place going on to win it all, illustrating the single-elimination nature of Olympic volleyball as clearly as any match ever has. Above all, this gold made Lang Ping the only person in the sport's history to win Olympic gold as both a player, in 1984, and a head coach, in 2016, and it launched Zhu Ting's status as the world's best player for the next five years.