KEY POINTS:
Officials and the family of Barbara Bachman, stabbed in a frenzied apparently random attack in Beijing that killed her husband, Todd, say her condition has improved.
Mrs Bachman is the mother-in-law of New Zealand-born American volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon.
Darryl Seibel of the US Olympic Committee said the
family and USOC were "very, very, very happy to report her condition is upgraded".
He said family members, including her two daughters who flew from their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were at the hospital with her.
Dale Bachman, Todd Bachman's cousin and president of the family garden centre, said in Minneapolis that Mrs Bachman had opened her eyes.
"That was very meaningful to them and I hope a very good sign."
McCutcheon, who was trying to look after the shattered family, said his thoughts were also with his mother in Christchurch., the city in which he was raised.
He took immediate leave from the Games when he heard of the attack.
He said last night that his parents-in-law were close to his mother, Milly McCutcheon.
"I've talked to my mum quite a bit and the phone's ringing and there's a lot of media interest, and of course it's just my mum in Christchurch - she's not equipped to deal with something of this magnitude. Not that she's not capable, it's just that it's so surreal.
"We have a small family in New Zealand but we're tight. I know she's hurting, and she's very much a part of the broader picture.
"Our two families were very close and it is a good in-law relationship. She's rocked, it's hard for all of us."
McCutcheon, 38, was at training when his wife, Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, rang from the Drum Tower to tell him of the attack.
He rushed to the scene, the start of what he said later was a "rough couple of days".
After four years gearing the US volleyball team up for the Olympics, McCutcheon now does not know if he will rejoin the team before the Games end. It will depend on how well the critically hurt Mrs Bachman recovers.
Leaving the Games had been a simple decision to make, he said.
"Volleyball is my job, my family is my life, so that distinction has been very easy for me.
"I am passionate about the game, my job, I enjoy coaching, volleyball has been wonderful to Elisabeth and me ... but at this stage it's easy for me to focus on the task at hand, which is taking care of my immediate family.
"Once we've got it taken care of we can look at other things in life."
His father-in-law was a man of great integrity who "stood for all the right things and he lived them".
The last he had heard from him was a text message during the Games opening ceremony, saying how proud he was to see his son-in-law march.
California-based McCutcheon was not angry about what he called a "tragic and senseless event".
"I believe that random acts of violence are random acts of violence.
"There is no indication that there was any premeditation. It seems unfortunately to be a case of the wrong place at the wrong time."
Tang Yongming, 47 - a homeless, jobless, twice-divorced man - had no previous criminal record and "acted out of despair over personal failures", the official Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying.
McCutcheon watched on TV as his US team narrowly beat Venezuela yesterday, and felt they had been hurt by the killing.
"Certainly the team has been influenced by this - it's not exactly how you would want to prepare for your first match."
McCutcheon represented New Zealand before moving to the US in 1990 to play for Brigham Young University.
He took over as US head coach in 2005.
His wife was a member of the US women's volleyball team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
- NZPA
