| I put her
in the category of the "rookie turned lethal weapon"
in a short time because that's precisely how I saw the evolution
of this talented player. Li Yueming was probably China's venture
into the world of the over-1.85 metre middle blocker. China
realised that without Lang
Ping, they lost in height, despite the amazing
years China had seen with a relatively short team. And as good
as they all were, the rest of the world was getting taller
players in their lineups: Japan had Norie Hiro, the USA had
Kimberly Oden and Keba Phipps, Peru had Gabriela
Pérez del Solar, and the whole Cuban and Russian
teams were ridiculously tall for the women's average. So the
Chinese federation combed the country and picked a tall but
clumsy, timid, and at times weak-looking kid.
Li Yueming was a
promising player as a new, taller addition to the Chinese
lineup. But with time, most every other foreign player in the
world was as tall, as quick, and as experienced as her, if not
more. Unfortunately for her, as she improved, the rest of her
team did not.
The first match I saw her in was at
the 1987 Japan Cup, and despite her ups-and-downs she really
raised some brows with several immaculate roof-blocks that
foreshadowed awesome years to come for this rookie.
Unfortunately, Li Yueming never
saw the golden success that her older teammates did. They all
did their best to teach her the secrets of the trade, as is
always the case in an inter-generational exchange. Li Yueming
played at extraordinarily high levels precisely because she was
surrounded by such amazing talent. In Seoul 88, both she and Wu
Dan were the new additions to the starting lineup, but
Wu Dan fit the Chinese puzzle better than Li Yueming because she
had been a reserve for so long. Despite China's disappointment
in Seoul, Li Yueming remained with the team after all of the
1988 starting lineup—except for Wu Dan—retired. This ended a
truly amazing era in Chinese volleyball, for all the big names
from the mid-80s were now gone. It was just a matter of time
before Li Yueming would blossom into a solid player, but when
she did, the rest of the world was playing at her level, and
beyond.
The responsibility now lay on the next generation to keep
Chinese volleyball at the top of the podium. Newer players came
from the Junior national teams, among them another middle
blocker, Lai Yawen, outside hitter Li Guojun, and a setter in Su
Huijuan who, like Wu Dan, had been a long-time reserve since
before the 1986 World's. This new team was very talented, as
they showed at the 1990 World Championships in their own
country. The final in Beijing against the Olympic champions from
the Soviet Union was a thrilling match in which China had
recurred to reinforcements in the form of Lang Ping. Regardless
of her efforts, China succumbed 3-1 to the USSR, a team that was
at their zenith with setter and tournament MVP Irina
Parkhomchuk.
Li Yueming stayed with the national team a couple of years
into the new decade, playing in the 91 World Cup in Japan and
doing a relatively good job, despite some back problems. But one
could see that China was losing substance in their talent.
Setter Ma Fang was not at a par with Su Huijuan, and certainly
not with Yang Xilan. Outside
hitter Li Guojun put on a lot of weight (what happened to
her?), and Wu Dan wasn't as effective as before. The whole team
structure seemed to render less, who knows why... maybe the
coaching? They found themselves losing ground to the Cubans—now
back into the international scene after several Olympic
boycotts, the always strong Soviets, and even the Koreans, who
were seeing the fruits of a good Junior-development programme.
Their most disappointing performance came in the Barcelona
Olympics of 92, in which they lost matches to Cuba, and the
Netherlands (a huge upset), and failed to reach the
quarterfinals by losing to Brazil in the new rally-scoring
tie-break. After that, Li Yueming retired, in what was an early
ending to what could have been a brilliant career. But I guess
she saw that the Chinese volleyball administration was becoming
a bit too relaxed, or that perhaps the pressure on her shoulders
to uphold Chinese glory was burning her out. Luckily for her,
her decision to leave prevented her from seeing even worse
defeats in the upcoming years…
 
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