They were the hometown heroes of the Pyeongchang Olympics, the South Korean underdogs with the catchy nicknames who swept past more seasoned teams to nab the silver medal in curling.
In a flash, the story of the “Garlic Girls” went from a heart-warmer to a heartbreaker.
The five-member women’s curling team, whose name is a nod to their rural hometown’s prolific garlic production, accused two coaches and a curling executive of verbally and emotionally abusing them and withholding prize money.
Photo: Reuters
The scandal rocked South Korea, where the team had achieved celebrity status, and highlighted the abuse and corruption that has long plagued the country’s elite sports scene.
Four years later, the Garlic Girls are at the Beijing Olympics, ready to do what they could not in Pyeongchang — be themselves and enjoy the experience, team skip Kim Eun-jung said.
“We basically decided to have fun this time,” said Kim, whose stern expressions, owl-eyed glasses and ear-piercing shouts to her teammates on the ice made her a fan favorite during the Pyeongchang Games.
This time around, the team has vowed to avoid the unbearable stress that was heaped on their shoulders by their former coaching staff, their Canadian coach Peter Gallant said.
“This whole experience of going to Beijing, it’s such a relaxing one compared to the pressure cooker they were in four years ago,” said Gallant. “Nobody could be under any more pressure at curling than they were.”
The women said they were mistreated by former Korea Curling Federation vice president Kim Kyung-doo; his daughter and their head coach, Kim Min-jung; and her husband, Jang Ban-seok, who was also the country’s mixed doubles curling coach.
In addition to withholding their prize money, the players said Kim Kyung-doo verbally abused them, and that the coaches controlled their lives, even attempting to force out Kim Eun-jung after learning she planned to start a family.
The federation ultimately banned the trio from the sport for life.
Gallant, who has worked with the team on and off since 2016, said his limited Korean-language skills left him largely unaware of the verbal abuse his players were enduring.
When the women went public with their accusations, his heart broke.
“You become so attached to them, you hate seeing anybody take advantage of them,” he said.
Mixed with the horror he felt over their allegations was pride over their bravery.
“It just took so much strength for them,” he said. “In this society where there’s so much respect for elders ... for them to come out in public and basically accuse people older than them of the things that they did, it just was an incredible story.”
Curling was virtually unknown in South Korea prior to Pyeongchang, and the Garlic Girls came into the Games ranked eighth in the world.
Their electrifying performance on the ice quickly captivated curling fans, and their quirky personalities made them global sensations.
Realizing that most Westerners would struggle with their names — particularly because they all share the common South Korean surname of Kim — they turned to their favorite breakfast foods as inspiration for their individual nicknames, including “Steak” and “Pancake.”
The women became media darlings, starring in a series of commercials for Korean electronics brand LG.
So intense was their fame that Kim Eun-jung — nicknamed “Annie” after a brand of yogurt — could not even walk down the street without being recognized, Gallant said.
On Thursday, the women beamed as they waved to fans in the curling arena ahead of their first battle of the Beijing Games.
They lost to curling heavyweight Canada, 12-7, but they high-fived each other anyway.
On Friday, they went on to beat Britain, and yesterday downed Russia 9-5.
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