2018 PyeongChang Olympics is 'family affair'

From left are members of the Korean national curling team with family ties: twin brothers Lee Ki-bok and Lee Ki-jeong, sisters Kim Kyung-ae and Kim Young-mi, brother and sister Kim Min-chan and Kim Min-jung, head coach of the women’s curling team, and Min-jung’s husband Jang Ban-seok, who heads the mixed doubles team for PyeongChang 2018. / Korea Times

Sibling athletes chase Olympic gold

By Park Jin-hai

With the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics started Friday, some athletes are gaining more attention than others because they are competing for Olympic gold against or alongside their family members.

As many athletes at the Olympics will turn professional after participating in winter sports against their relatives, it is likely we can expect family dramas during the 17-day winter festivities in PyeongChang.

Curling ‘Team Kim’

In the curling world, where teamwork is vital for a team’s success, it is quite common to see generation after generation of the same families compete in the sport in many countries.

South Korea’s curling national team, too, is like a large family. Seven of the 15 members of Team Korea are connected through family ties. Kim Min-jung, head coach of the women’s curling squad, is married to Jang Ban-seok, who heads the mixed doubles team. Kim Kyung-ae and Kim Young-mi of the women’s squad are sisters.

On the men’s team, Kim Min-chan is Min-jung’s younger brother. Curlers Lee Ki-bok and Lee Ki-jeong are twin brothers. While Ki-bok will compete on the men’s curling team, brother Ki-jeong will compete for the gold medal in mixed doubles.

“I couldn’t be happier, even after winning a ticket for the national team, because of my brother,” Ki-bok said. “After he was also selected as a member of the national mixed doubles team, I was delighted.”

The women’s curling team has much hope for Olympic gold.

Since curling was introduced to Korea in 1994, the sport has not gained much fame, but what has changed about the sport in Korea were the great performances of the women’s curling team during the previous Olympics. South Korea’s women’s curling team finished out of the medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, but now it shows more promise.

The current women’s curling team _ called “Team Kim,” made up of Kim Kyeong-ae (third), Kim Seon-yeong (second), Kim Yeong-mi (lead) and alternate Kim Cho-hee _ claimed a silver at the Sapporo Asian Winter Games in February 2017, and a few more golds at regional tournaments and championships.

“We’ve played with the big four powers of Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and Scotland on the world stage for the last two years. And we’ve never lost to the Scots,” said Kim Min-jung, head coach of the women’s curling team, during a media day held at Jincheon National Training Center. “You can expect a medal from us at PyeongChang. I say this in full confidence.”

The women’s curling team will begin the tournament against current world champion Canada in the morning of Feb. 15, and against Japan that afternoon.

In speed skating, two teen brothers share a dream of winning gold at PyeongChang. Speed skaters Jung Jae-woong, 19, and Jung Jae-won, 17, will compete for Team Korea. This is the first time brother speed skaters have advanced to the country’s Olympic national team together. Jae-woong will compete on the short track, while Jae-won will compete on the long track.

Sisters representing different countries

Marissa Brandt, right, a Korean adoptee of a Minnesota family, represents the Korean women’s joint hockey team, and her younger sister Hannah Brandt is on the U.S. women's national team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. /AP-Yonhap

Marissa Brandt, 25, born as Park Yoon-jung in Korea and adopted to a family in the U.S., will represent the Korean joint hockey team, while her sister Hannah Brandt, 24, will play on the U.S. women’s national team.

It was Hannah who first started her Olympic dream, winning three national titles. Marissa joined the dream when she received a surprise call from the Korea Ice Hockey Association to play for her birth country in 2015. She reacquired her South Korean citizenship the next year and will be playing under her birth name.

“The fact that I am able to come back here and represent my birth country is really special,” she said. “Being here with my sister is something I never could have dreamed of. It really is a fairy tale. It’s crazy,” Marissa recently said to local media.

Brother-sister figure pair

American ice dancing duo Maia Shibutani, left, and her brother Alex Shibutani are fondly called “ShibSibs.” / Shibutanis' facebook capture

American ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani make up one of the world’s most-watched ice dance teams.

The duo of Maia, 23, and Alex, 26, is fondly called “ShibSibs” _ a combination of their last name and the word “siblings.” Maia started first, beginning her career as a single figure skater, and her brother, who said he was “not that into skating” initially, followed soon after.

The pair, two-time U.S. national champions, have been on the ice for 14 year together now. They won their first U.S. senior national title, their first International Skating Union championship event and a silver medal at the 2016 World Championships. They finished ninth at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, their first Olympic appearance.

“I think a lot of our success comes from how close we are and the bond we have. I think what we have is very unique,” Alex said recently to Reuters.

The Shibutani siblings are creating a buzz on and off the ice. Their respective and joint “ShibSibs” social media accounts, featuring their trips, ice performances and talk show appearances, have a combined total of about 120,000 followers.

Although having family ties doesn’t mean they never disagree, their coach Marina Zoueva said to the media, “It’s a family project. In the end it helps that they are brother and sister.”