SEOUL– Two-time Olympic short track gold medalist Shim Suk-hee is set to rejoin the national team this week after serving a two-month ban for her off-ice trouble, the sport’s governing body said Sunday.
An official with the Korea Skating Union (KSU) said the national team will resume training Wednesday, following the recent Beijing Winter Olympics. The team had planned to gather at Taeneung International Rink in Seoul on Sunday but readjusted its schedule to account for the National Winter Sports Festival taking place at the same venue.
With that, Shim’s controversial return to the national team has also been pushed back.
Shim was slapped with the two-month suspension in December last year after her expletive-laden text message exchanges with a coach during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics were leaked. In those threads, Shim mocked and derided her teammates, including two members of the current squad, Choi Min-jeong and Kim A-lang. With Choi in particular, Shim even hinted at trying to crash into the skater on purpose out of spite. The two did get tangled up in the women’s 1,000m final at PyeongChang 2018 and slammed into the wall, though Shim was cleared of any race-fixing charges by the KSU.
The governing federation penalized Shim for damaging the integrity of the sport, and the ban kept her out of the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Winter Games. Shim’s ban ended one day after the closing ceremony.
Without Shim, the women’s team won silver in the 3,000m relay in Beijing. Choi captured gold in the 1,500m and silver in the 1,000m.
Shim was first cut from the national team in October last year, when her text messages first became public. The 2014 and 2018 Olympic relay champion had won the national team trials in May last year but missed out on her third Olympics.
Shim now turns her eyes to the world championships, scheduled for March 18-20 in Montreal.
Sources said Sunday that Choi and Kim had not yet decided whether to report to the national team this week.
Kim and Shim competed together at the 2014 and 2018 Olympics, while Choi and Shim were teammates at the 2018 event.
The bridge between Shim and Choi, though, appears to have been burned beyond repair. Soon after the controversial texts were leaked, Choi publicly called on Shim to stop calling her and texting her in a belated attempt to apologize and said Shim was only making the situation worse.
Source: Yonhap News Agency