USA volleyball beats Japan, but tragedy casts pall

Published 10:56 am Saturday, August 9, 2008

BEIJING — A U.S. women’s volleyball team struck by tragedy just hours earlier beat Japan in an emotional Olympic opener marred by murder of an ex-player’s father.

The team took the court Saturday after learning of the stabbing death of Todd Bachman, father of former Olympian Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon. He was attacked by a knife-wielding man at a popular tourist site in Beijing. Her mother was seriously injured by the attacker, who jumped to his death from a balcony of the Drum Tower, an ancient landmark the Americans were visiting.

“It’s hard to put it in words,” a tearful U.S. player Logan Tom said after the match. “That’s not something that’s supposed to happen.”

The tragedy hung over the game, in which the Americans defeated Japan 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21), in the first match of preliminary play at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

The U.S. team was greeted enthusiastically by the Chinese fans because their coach, Jenny Lang Ping, is a sports icon in China. Ping, who has led the American women since 2005, was known as the “Iron Hammer” during her playing days with the Chinese national team because of her powerful spikes.

Bachman McCutcheon is the wife of U.S. men’s indoor coach Hugh McCutcheon.