The coaches of South Korea's charismatic women's curling team who made a splash in winning silver at the Pyeongchang Olympics-2018 resigned on Tuesday after being accused by sportsmen of exploitative and verbal abuse.
In a statement, coach Kim Kyung-doo apologized for being the source of a "disappointment and huge concern. I sincerely apologize to the athletes for causing so much pain with my poor way of expressing myself, " he said.
According to the five curlers, nicknamed "cloves of garlic" as they are called because they are from a small rural town, Uiseong, famous for the cultivation of condiment, coaches reigned on the South Korean curling in the manner of a family stronghold: the husband of their head coach Kim Ming-jun is a former national team, while his father Kim Kyung-doo is a former vice president of the Korean Curling Federation (KCF).
"We will distance ourselves from curling"
"From now on, my family and I will distance ourselves from curling," he said, adding that the three members of the management would resign. The "Garlic Team" was the only one of the memorable stories of the last Winter Olympics: they who were outsiders at the beginning of the Pyeongchang Games in February became local stars by spraying Canada and Switzerland.
On the other side of the silver medal last month, they accused their supervisors of abusing them verbally and wanting to control them excessively. The managers reprimanded them for talking to reporters and censoring their fans' letters, according to the team.Mr. Kim promised to cooperate fully with the investigation initiated by the South Korean Ministry of Sport and the Korean Olympic and Sports Committee (KSOC).
Abuse of language, and excessive control
"I hope the interest in curling will not suffer. I sincerely hope that the athletes will not suffer anymore and will be able to progress further " .
The players, also called "Team Kim" (Kim team) because they share the same surname Kim, the most widespread in the country, have nicknames related to food - Pancake or Steak - for the public to recognize them more easily.
Despite their Olympic money, they failed at national competitions in August and could not participate in international events. They have moved from seventh to 14th in the world and are now looking for new coaches.