On August 30th, in the final of the 2026 Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, the Chinese national team lost to Thailand 2:3, missing out on direct qualification to the Los Angeles Olympics. Following the defeat, a familiar name has resurfaced: Zhu Ting. Volleyball fans yearned fervently for the return of the “Chinese volleyball saver”—if she had been here, China could have won. Since the Paris Olympics, Zhu Ting, the outside hitter who once led the Chinese national team to an Olympic championship, has not appeared on the national team roster.
“Zhu's the bedrock of that team. She's the reason why they won five years ago in Rio. Without her, I don’t see how they win a gold medal.” –U.S. Coach Karch Kiraly
This has aroused widespread confusion: why? Why abandon the national team?
Why did Zhu Ting Step Away?
In November 2025, after Zhu Ting won the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship, an interviewer asked Zhu about the national team, and she walked away with “I haven’t considered it”. This evoked a lot of anger and disputes from volleyball fans. Some criticized Zhu for being unpatriotic—winning medals abroad and abandoning China; others conjectured that she became incompetent for the national team because of her wrist injury. However, none of the surmises were correct.
So, why didn’t she come back?—what exactly did Zhu go through from leading China into Olympic champions to leaving the team for foreign clubs?
The story reached back to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when the Chinese women's volleyball team was eliminated in the group stage with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses, creating the worst historical record in years. As the captain of the team, Zhu became the target of criticism. The attacks went beyond her performances on court, with insults and rumors directed both at Zhu and her family. The Chinese volleyball association, which was supposed to clarify for Zhu, remained silent and blamed the loss on the team and their captain. In 2021, the insults became so severe that she took legal action against several people who spread rumors about her online. Later, she described the period surrounding the Tokyo Olympics as “the darkest moment of my life.” Zhu revealed that there was a time when she shut down all social media, largely shutting herself from the outside world. Her coach, Lang Ping, recalled that it took half a month for Zhu to respond to her WeChat messages. She even considered retiring during that time.
During that period, few people knew that she had been struggling with her right-wrist injury for years. In 2019, the injury flared up again when she was saving a ball. She recalled that when the pain was severe, she could lose sensation even when she tried to make a fist. During the Tokyo Olympics, Zhu had to take painkillers every morning to deal with the pain, wearing braces and bandages during training.
“I felt that I had worked so hard for the Olympics. When it finally came to harvest season, when it was time to reap what I had sown, I found that the machine was broken and I could not harvest anything.”
A determined, talented player who suffered from her injury and risked her own health playing for China received zero consolation, but storms of criticism and insults. How could any person remain in the national team after experiencing this trauma?
Zhu did.
In 2024, due to the call of China, volleyball fans, and her own determination, she still returned to the team for the Paris Olympics after a long period of rehabilitation. Her return reignited hope among volleyball fans, deeming that whenever China called for Zhu, she would always come back and “save the team”. At the end of the event, she also expressed that playing for China had always been a dream deep in her heart; the Chinese national team also made it clear that “doors would always be opened to her”.
Beyond these renewed hopes, a different reality was emerging. In 2025, the No. 2 jersey, which she had worn for nearly 10 years, was given to another younger player. This further increased the distance between Zhu and the Chinese volleyball team, providing a small but meaningful sign that the national team was beginning to move on without her—the doors were closing.
Then came 2026; Zhu still did not return to the national team. One practical reason was the timing of China's annual player registration. Players were required to complete their registration within a specific window, and the period overlapped with the most important part of Zhu's Italian league season. By the time she finished her club commitments, the registration window had already closed, making her unavailable for the national team this year again.
Is regulation the sole reason? We are not sure. Zhu Ting is a player that top volleyball clubs are all vying for, yet she couldn’t even make it into the player list in her own country. Isn’t it a bit too simple?
After her Italian championship, the interviewer asks her, “Have you been following the domestic competitions?”
“The Asian Championship…”, Zhu fell into silence, wearing an embarrassed and awkward expression. “Can we skip this part?”
If regulations are the sole reason, why is she avoiding the topic of the Chinese volleyball team? Dismissing anyone who asks her about it. In the CCTV interview, she also became uneasy when the topics moved on to the Tokyo Olympics period, obviously struggling within herself.
Perhaps the rules explained why Zhu Ting could not return. But her story and all her avoidance of the topics around the Chinese national team raise a more painful question: after putting so much effort into Chinese volleyball, only to receive years of pressure, insults, and heavy expectations in return, has Zhu reached a point where she simply could no longer stay in the team?
What Now?
Many of the players who once formed the core of the team have either retired or stepped away, like Zhu Ting. This leaves a younger generation to take the responsibility of the team. When former coach Lang Ping retired, she reflected that the core players of the Chinese volleyball team are aging, and new, experienced people are needed. The question, then, is not simply whether China can find other people like Zhu Ting. It is whether the new generation can build a team where no single player has to carry the weight of an entire nation. This event of Zhu Ting also brings attention to athletes like her—who have given years to their country, yet are often misjudged. They can choose when to return, step away, and what comes next. Beyond medals and victories, perhaps what they deserve the most is the freedom and respect to make that choice.
References
1. Press, A., & Authors, M. (n.d.). U.S. women’s volleyball hands china 2nd straight loss. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31897805/us-women-volleyball-hands-china-2nd-straight-loss
2. World, V. (2026, August 30). Thailand make history and qualify for first Olympics after Asian title. Volleyballworld.Com. https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/avc-women-continental/news/thailand-make-history-qualify-for-la-2028-with-asian-title
3. World, V. (2026, August 30). Thailand make history and qualify for first Olympics after Asian title. Volleyballworld.Com. https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/avc-women-continental/news/thailand-make-history-qualify-for-la-2028-with-asian-title
4. 央CCTV. (2025, October 16). 《体坛零距离》郎平和朱婷的“跨时代对话”. 哔哩哔哩. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1dRWqzCEae/
5. ByebyeAce. (2024, December 20). 朱婷纪录片【无争之征】 之 《凤凰涅槃》. 哔哩哔哩. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1UDkmYaESK/
6. Zhuper-star’s return lifts Team China_Local_The People’s Government of Henan Province. (2024). Henan.Gov.Cn. https://english.henan.gov.cn/2024/04-11/2977437.html