Abusive curling coach gets lifetime ban

By Jung Min-ho

The Korean female curling team’s assistant coach Choi Min-suk, who offered to resign after accusations last month that he sexually abused team members, was slapped with a lifetime ban on Thursday.

Head coach Chung Young-sup, who also tendered his resignation when the issue surfaced, received a five-year suspension for failing to return the balance of unused training grants to the members. He was not involved in the alleged sexual abuse.

The decision of the Korea Curling Federation (KCF) came after four members of the team _ Um Min-ji, 23, Lee Suel-bee, 26, Kim Ji-sun, 27 and Gim Un-ji, 24 _ said on March 28 that they were leaving their team run by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government in protest of Choi’s sexual abuse. The athletes also said the coach forced them to donate part of the reward money they received for their Sochi Olympic performance.

Shin Mi-sung, 36, who was not involved in claims against the coach, remained on the team, but she had previously indicated she would soon resign for family reasons.

The KCF immediately formed a disciplinary committee, which included a lawyer, professor and psychologist, and started an investigation into the case. The committee found that Choi’s repeatedly made physical contact with players against their will, but the coach maintained he had no sexual intent. The committee could not find evidence of any coerced donation.

“Using abusive language and mismanaging training grants are unacceptable, and that is why we came down hard on the coaches,” the curling organization said. “We will develop measures to prevent recurrences of similar incidents and to better protect athletes’ rights and interests.”

After finding the balance of unused training grants, which were supposed to be returned to the members, the KCF also requested that the Korean Olympic Committee investigate where the money went.

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Province sports council convinced the athletes to return to the team, promising to hire new coaches after the probe. They came back on April 1.

The council said it will consult athletes of all teams that belong to the Gyeonggi Provincial Government every four months and have regular sexual harassment prevention training.

Korea failed to reach the semifinals at the Sochi Games, but finished fourth in the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Saint John, Canada, earlier this month.

After their dramatic performance in Sochi, the athletes became household names, drawing extensive attention nationwide.