Olympic dream turns to nightmare for S. Korea’s ‘Garlic Girls’

SEOUL: The South Korean women’s curling team were the unexpected heroines of last year’s Winter Olympics, but since their impressive run to the final they have endured a nightmare year.Known as the “Garlic Girls” for their rural hometown where the pungent bulb is a speciality, all five have the surname Kim and use food-based nicknames to differentiate themselves. Rank outsiders at the start of the Pyeongchang Games, they upset top teams Canada and Switzerland and shot to fame, with the wide glasses and trademark stare of skip Kim Eun-jung -- known as “Annie”, after a yoghurt brand -- inspiring viral memes online.In the end, “Annie”, with “Pancake” Kim Yeong-mi, her sister “Steak” Kyeong-ae, “Chocho” Kim Cho-hi and “Sunny” Kim Seon-yeong, named after sunny-side up eggs, fell at the last hurdle and had to be content with silver -- and national stardom.But months later, they went public with allegations of abuse and exploitation by their coaches, part of a wide-ranging scandal that has engulfed South Korea’s sports establishment. Sidelined from the national team and unable to take part in international competitions, theGarlic Girls have plummeted from seventh to 111th in the world rankings. South Korea is a regional sporting power, regularly in the top-10 medal tables at the summer and winter Olympics.

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2I3TWWq