The Korean Skating Union announced Friday that it suspended an unidentified male coach of its national team for allegedly assaulting female speedskater Shim Suk-hee, who won three medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and will captain the South Korean team at next month’s PyeongChang Olympics in her home country.
The KSU told the Associated Press that Shim, 20, left a national team training center for two days this week after the alleged assault by one of her four male coaches, returning Thursday to resume her training.
“The most important thing now is to create an environment where Shim will be able to stay focused on her training with the Olympics just around the corner,” an unidentified KSU official told the Yonhap News Agency.
In a comment to the Korea Herald, an unidentified source who knows Shim well described the incident as “disturbing.”
“I’m aware that there’s been tension between the two, as Shim’s pace hasn’t been maintained ahead of the Olympics,” the person added.
Shim hails from Gangneung, which is about 40 miles northeast of PyeongChang and will host all the ice events at next month’s Olympics, including speedskating. In Sochi, Shim won gold as the anchor of South Korea’s 3,000-meter relay team while also winning silver in the 1,500 individual event and bronze in the 1,000. She won the overall title at the 2014 world championships and took home overall World Cup titles in 2013 and 2014.
“Right now, we don’t have clear facts as to what transpired between the coach and the athlete,” Shim’s sports-management firm, Galaxia SM, told Yonhap in a statement. “Shim has been shaken up by this case more than anyone. But she’s back training for the Olympics, and we hope fans will send support her way.”
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