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Curling coach Gallant leaves words of criticism

Posted March. 08, 2018 08:09,   

Updated March. 08, 2018 08:09

한국어

The Montreal Gazette reported on Wednesday that Peter Gallant, who led the Korean women’s curling team in winning silver, has earned fame coaching “Team Kim,” though he wasn’t particularly well known as an athlete. The Canadian coach had worked with Team Kim for three years since 2016.

“The contract between the Korean team and coach Gallant, which was financially supported by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, was terminated last Wednesday,” said an official with the Korean National Curling Team. “He also wished to take a break for a while.” The curling coach has been offered a coach position for national curling team of other country.

“The PyeongChang Olympics has offered a golden opportunity to curling in Korea,” he said in an interview with the Canadian newspaper. “But the Korean Curling Federation, being led by former military officials, will not improve if wrong people continue to stay. They did not even thank me.”

Gallant said the national team athletes were like his daughters. “Some may view Korea’s achievement as a one-off event, but it certainly isn’t. The Korean team won twice in three rounds with Canada’s Rachel Homan team, which ranks world No. 1. Its recent scores with counterparts in the Olympics are competitive,” he said. “I don’t think they liked the nickname ‘garlic girls,’ but their hometown certainly is famous for garlic.”


Yun-Cheol Jeong trigger@donga.com