Nat'l short track team brings back head coach from 2018 Winter Olympics
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- The national short track speed skating team has been reunited with a coach who guided the country to a successful performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics at home.
The Korea Skating Union (KSU) announced Thursday that Kim Sun-tae will take the reins as the temporary head coach of the national short track team. The move comes with the 2026 Winter Games in Italy less than six months away.
Kim coached South Korea to three gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics -- more gold medals and more total medals than any other country.
However, the KSU later suspended Kim for one year for his lack of oversight, after it was belatedly revealed that Shim Suk-hee, a star skater on the women's team, had been physically and sexually abused by assistant coach Cho Jae-beom, in the leadup to the PyeongChang Olympics.
Kim then became head coach of the Chinese national team and led his adopted country to two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the Beijing Winter Games in 2022.
Kim returned home after the Olympics and coached the semi-pro club for Seongnam City Hall in Seongnam, just south of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Four out of 10 members on the current national team, including three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong, skates for Seongnam.
South Korea is the most successful country in Olympic short track history with 26 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 11 bronze medals.
The KSU said its board of directors approved Kim's appointment Wednesday, after deciding to reassign the previous head coach and dismiss his former assistant coach.
Both of those coaches, whose identities were withheld by the KSU, had previously been slapped with one-month and three-month suspensions for allegedly embezzling funds allocated for training during an overseas competition.
Both appealed the initial rulings and were reinstated by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and a court. The KSU's board still decided to remove them from the national team.
The KSU said the ex-head coach was unfit to lead South Korea at the upcoming Winter Games, given the country's poor performances at recent international events. The national governing body also accused the former assistant coach of his overall lack of professionalism during competitions, in addition to misappropriating official funds.
The dismissal must be finalized by the KSU's human resources committee and fair competition committee.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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