Russian Curler Stripped of Olympic Medal for Doping
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46 Friday Sports Friday, February 23, 2018 South Korea ‘Garlic Girls’ spice up Olympic curling Minimizing confusion - All share surname ‘KIM’ GANGNEUNG: They’re dubbed the “Garlic contrast to their fun nicknames, the curlers mean Girls” but go by the names Pancake, Yogurt, business on ice. “They play with a lot of pas- Steak, Cookie and Sunny-meet the South Korean sion, very technically sound,” Rick Patzke, chief curlers who are whipping up a recipe for success executive officer of the US Curling Association at the Olympics. The Koreans, ranked eighth in said. “It’s great to see the home crowd getting the world, have emerged medal contenders at the behind them here.” Pyeongchang Games. After stunning top teams The curlers were apparently unprepared for like Canada, Switzerland and Sweden, they were the fervent flag-waving home crowd that packs the first to advance to the semi-finals. the stadium each time they play. They entered the Their giant-killing feats on the ice have tournament as outsiders and saw the crowds drawn big crowds in a build up as they went country where curling is from win to win. “We are little known. Their skills surprised that curling can have wooed fans while Curlers whip be so welcomed in their affectionate nick- Korea,” said the team’s names have added a up a recipe coach Kim Min-jung. light-hearted twist to South Korea sent its first their feats on the ice. “I for success curling team to the think the names are so Olympics in 2014. fun,” said Oh Ja-young, “We’ve always wanted to a spectator from Bun- make curling a more dang. “But if they popular and common weren’t doing so well, I wouldn’t pay attention recreational sport in Korea and we’re happy we to their names.” are getting there,” Kim added. GANGNEUNG: South Korea’s Kim Alang (2nd left) competes in the women’s 1,000m short track speed All of them have “KIM” written on the back skating quarter-final event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games yesterday. — AFP of their uniforms, the most common Korean sur- ‘Team Kim’ name that they share. To minimize confusion, Only last month, curling was considered an Kim Eun-jung, Kim Seon-yeong, Kim Kyeong- obscure sport in South Korea. Now, memes of spite the sudden spike in the team’s popularity, famous for garlic farming-built a curling centre ae, Kim Yeong-mi and alternate Kim Cho-hi de- the South Korean curlers have gone viral online they are no flash in the pan-they have been in the in 2006 with funding from the local government. cided to adopt nicknames-and a brainstorming and several fans are posting good-humored clips sport for more than a decade. Their hometown of As a result, many students at Uiseong joined the session took place at the breakfast table. But in mimicking the sport with cleaning supplies. De- Uiseong-a rural town of around 54,000 people curling team, including the Olympians. — AFP since I was growing up, to be named alongside him is simply ‘Blown away’- Swede amazing.” Myhrer is the second 35-year-old man to take Alpine gold in South Korea after Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won Myhrer wins shock the downhill. Hirscher crashes out Russian curler The 23-year-old Kristoffersen went fastest in the morning, just Olympic slalom gold ahead of Myhrer, and looked to have one hand on the title. But nerves appeared to get the better of the Norwegian, skiing last, stripped of Olympic PYEONGCHANG: Swedish veteran Andre Myhrer captured a and his dreams of a first Olympic gold evaporated when he failed shock slalom men’s gold at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to finish his second run. Kristoffersen, who won silver in the giant medal for doping yesterday as the two favorites both spectacularly bombed out. slalom in Pyeongchang, refused to blame his vomiting at the start. Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland won silver, 0.34sec behind, “I’m always sick. I’ve been sick for four days. A little cold, and Michael Matt of Austria the bronze after his countryman didn’t affect me at all. I usually puke before the start, anyway.”The PYEONGCHANG: Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky Marcel Hirscher and then Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway American star Mikaela Shiffrin similarly vomited before the start was stripped of his Pyeongchang Winter Olympics bronze crashed out. of the women’s slalom last week. She blamed nerves. Kristof- medal yesterday after admitting doping, the Court of Arbi- It later transpired that Kristoffersen vomited before he started fersen’s dramatic demise came after Hirscher crashed out in the tration for Sport said. The 25-year-old was one of 168 Russ- his ill-fated second run. Myhrer, at 35 years and 42 days, be- morning leg, ruining his hopes of a golden hat-trick in South ian athletes who passed rigorous testing to compete as comes the oldest man to win a slalom Olympic medal, breaking Korea. Hirscher, 28, failed to find his rhythm on a course set by neutrals in Pyeongchang after Russia were banned over a the record set by Austria’s Mario Matt-Michael’s brother-in 2014. his own coach, Michael Pircher, and eventually missed a gate, fail- major doping scandal. “The athlete has admitted the anti- He also follows his “idol” Ingemar Stenmark, who won the slalom ing to even make the second run. doping rule violation; he is disqualified from the mixed dou- and giant slalom in 1980, as only the second Swedish man to Hirscher-who had already won the alpine combined and giant bles curling event,” the court said in a statement. claim a Games alpine skiing crown. “It means everything. I’ve slalom at these Games, his first individual Olympic titles-revealed Krushelnitsky, who won mixed doubles bronze along been training my whole life for a moment like this,” said the un- he had never been comfortable in the lead-up to the slalom, even with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, has protested his inno- heralded Swede. in training. “The feeling was really bad the whole week on slalom cence and officials have hinted at foul play. But Krushel- “I took a medal in Vancouver (2010), a bronze, but I’ve been skis and this is the final result,” he admitted. “I had absolutely no nitsky decided not to contest yesterday’s CAS hearing, always dreaming about the gold medal and now it’s a reality and confidence on this kind of snow. I skied really badly. This is what saying it was “stupid to deny” testing positive for meldo- I’m totally blown away.” Myhrer, who clocked a winning com- also can happen and is part of the game, part of the sport. “You nium, an endurance booster. However, CAS said Krushel- bined time of 1:38.99, was flattered to be talked about in the have success and sometimes you have not the best days.” nitsky, who is provisionally suspended, “reserved his rights same breath as Stenmark. “He’s like an institution in Sweden and Hirscher had been aiming to become only the fourth skier in his- to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineli- one of the greatest athletes in Swedish history,” he said. “To be tory to win a third gold medal at a single Olympics, joining Aus- gibility based on ‘no fault or negligence’ following the con- named alongside him is a great honor for me. He was my idol tria’s Toni Sailer (1956), Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy and clusion of the Games”. — AFP Croatia’s Janica Kostelic (2002). — AFP .