Nickname: “Iron Hammer”
Country: China
Working from the assumption that any nickname that contains the word “iron” or “horse” is automatically cool — an assumption based, it should be noted, on the purely personal belief that Lou Gehrig’s nickname, “The Iron Horse,” is the single greatest nickname in the history of organized athletics — we’d be willing to consider Lang’s “Iron Hammer” moniker even if it didn’t so wonderfully illustrate the volleyball star’s galvanic striking power. The fact that it’s “Iron Hammer” as opposed to, say, “Hammer of the Gods” or “Hardcourt Hammer” or some other non-ferrous, hammer-related appellation only sealed the deal. Lang and her teammates won gold at the 1984 Olympics in L.A., and she guided the U.S. squad to a silver medal in Beijing in 2008.