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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS