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The written statement of female national short track skating athletes who asserted they had received physical punishment and inhumane treatment from the coaching staff.
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¡°It is too painful and distressing to get by day-to-day. I have thought of how a human being, particularly a woman, could be beaten like this. I'm punished very severely if my performance doesn¡¯t meet expectations, no matter how hard I may discipline myself.¡±
The nation was shocked to learn that female members of the Korean national short track skating team had been treated inhumanely, including regular physical punishment and strict monitoring of their private lives. One member of the short track team, which had collectively fled the team's training center, said in a written statement to the Korea Skating Union on Wednesday, ¡°Physical maltreatment continued even during overseas training tours and international tournaments. I've come to detest the skates I used to love so much.¡±
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Korean player Choi Eun-kyung leads the pack, followed by Byun Chun-sa and a Chinese skater in the 1,000-meter preliminary at the World Cup short-track speed skating event held Oct. 20, 2003 in Calgary, Canada./AP
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In another statement, the skaters asserted the inhumanity of the coaches continued even in their private lives. ¡°They pressured us not to speak freely in the dormitory, and banned borrowing books from the library and Internet surfing. They even banned us from visiting other rooms in the dormitory, and there was nothing we could really do except sit in our rooms quietly," said one skater. The short track team, which won all-round victories at the first and second World Cup events held in China, went straight to Taereung Athlete¡¯s Training Center when the team returned to Korea on Nov. 1 without taking any rest whatsoever. Six members of the team, however, left the center without permission on Nov. 3, bringing with them complaints against the coaching staff. Those team members were Choi Eun-kyung, Yeo Su-yeon (Chung-Ang Univ.), Byun Chun-sa, and Huh Hee-bin (Shinmok High), Kang Yoon-mi (Gwacheon High), and Jin Seon-yoo (Gwangun High). The Korea Skating Union persuaded them to return to the center the next day.
¡°In order to protect the reputation of the world's strongest country in short track skating, the athletes have been forced to go through harsh training schedules while their personal lives were totally sacrificed,¡± said an official from the union, adding, ¡°It seems the physical punishment may have crossed the line while the coaching staff was urging the athletes to attain another more good results in the third World Cup event scheduled for late November.¡± Coaches Kim So-hee and Choi Kwang-bok, who have been in charge of the woman¡¯s national team since last year, handed in their resignations to the Korea Skating Union on Monday.
(Kang Ho-cheol, jdean@chosun.com )
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