"New York Times"에서, 이번 동계 올림픽 여자 Curling 경기에서 무명의 한국 딸들이 지혜롭고, 강인하고, 협동심이 강하다는, 그래서 국민들의 영웅대접을 받게 했다는 찬사의 기사를 읽었다.
그녀들은 경상도 의성에 있는 한고등학교의 동창생들로, 그곳에서 우연히 컬링을 배우기 시작하고, 이번에는 마침내 동계 올림픽사상 유례없는, 한국을 빛낸 스타들이 된 자수성가형,아가씨들에 대해 Behind story를 전세계에 알려준 것이다.
Garlic Girls Take Over the Olympics, and Their Hometown Is Loving It
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Uiseong Girls High School gym hosted a watch party for the South Korean women’s curling team when it faced the United States. The team’s top four players graduated from the school.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times
그녀들의 모교강당에서는 컬링경기가 진행되고 있는 동안에, 지역사람들이 모여서 응원을 하곤 했었다고 하는데, 사진에서 보는, 노래응원 가수는 이정용씨. 아침마당에 출연하여, 그사실을 알려서, 알게된 것인데, 뉴욕타임스의 보도로, 이정용씨역시, 앞으로 가수로서의 커다람 디딤돌이 될것으로 믿어진다. 화요일의 빅매치를 앞두고, 한국을 대표하는 웹싸이트에서는, 이경기의 현장중계방송이 그녀들의 출신학교의 강당에서도 볼수 있다고 말이다. 이발표는 전국으로 동시에 펴졌고, 서울출신으로 배우이자 가수인이정용이 그곳에 가서, 모인 관중들 앞에서 노래도 응원을 했다는 멘트까지 배려한 뉴욕 타임스에 감사한 마음이다. 컬링에서, 한국은 거의 문외한이나 다름없는 불모지였었다. 다행스럽게도 이곳 의성에서 컬링경기장을 2006년도에 건설 하면서 컬링의 역사를 쓰게 된것 같다. 한전직 공무원이 우연히 캐나다를 여행하게 되면서, 한국에도 이러한 시설을 만들어 운영한다면 많은 사람들이 즐길수 있을것이란 생각을 갖게 한다. 귀국하여 주위사람들과 의견을 나누고, 필요한 건설자금을 모금하여 경북의성에 마침내 Curling Centre가 생겼다는 배경도 뉴욕 타임스는 설명까지 해주어서, 한국인들이 모르고 지냈던 일종의 역사까지도 알게해준것이다. 뉴욕타임스는, 컬링 여걸들에게 "Garlic Girls"애칭도 달아주었다. 아마도 한국음식을 만들때 꼭 들어가는 ingredient중에서 가장 중요한 요소인 마늘을 연상시킨데서 부쳐준 애칭이 아닐까?라는 생각을 하게된다.
UISEONG, South Korea — They arrived from all corners of Uiseong County. They brought homemade signs, waved flags and screamed for every shot. They came to celebrate four young women from this farming community who have emerged as the most unexpected (and most gloriously bespectacled) stars of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
On Tuesday afternoon, townspeople gathered inside the gymnasium here at Uiseong Girls High School to root for the South Korean women’s curling team, whose match against the United States was shown on a big screen as an M.C. leaned into a microphone and banged on a drum.
“I skip dinner whenever they’re playing,” said Chung Poong-ja, 75, who danced on the gym floor once the South Koreans sealed their victory against the Americans. “My focus needs to be on the match.”
Kim Sung-hee, 67, said, “I lost my voice from cheering so hard.”
It was the biggest, loudest party in the province, and for good reason: The team’s top four players grew up in this small county of about 54,000 people and graduated from this high school. Now, thanks to an improbable run at the Olympics being held in Pyeongchang, about 80 miles to the north, the team — dubbed the Garlic Girls by the Korean press, owing to the region’s production of garlic — seems on the cusp of international celebrity.
Never mind that the Garlic Girls, with their dominant record in pool play, have vaulted themselves into medal position in a sport that is still foreign to most South Koreans.
Curling is a game played on a sheet of ice in which the athletes use brooms to guide polished granite rocks toward a target. Its roots date to 16th-century Scotland.
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Kim Eun-jung, center, is the team’s skip — she sets the team’s strategy and throws the most important shots.CreditKimimasa Mayama/European Pressphoto Agency
But it was not until 2006 that one of South Korea’s first curling facilities was built — here in Uiseong. A former government official had seen the sport while traveling in Canada and thought it would appeal to a wide range of people. So the county cobbled together the funds to build the Gyeongbuk Uiseong Curling Centre.
Kim Joo-soo, the current county mayor, said in an interview at his office that four friends (including two sisters) from Uiseong Girls High School soon became regulars. They thought it was a fun after-school activity.
Nobody knew they would become Olympians.
“They’re sisters and they’re friends,” Kim said, “so their communication is so important. You can tell that teamwork is a big factor in their success.”
Another factor: the sterling play of Kim Eun-jung, 27, who goes by the nickname Annie and operates as the team’s skip, which means she orchestrates the team’s strategy and throws the most important shots. Some of those shots already have led the South Koreans past powerhouses like Canada, Switzerland and Britain, sealing a berth in Friday’s semifinals.
Kim Eun-jung, who wears eyeglasses that have become the most iconic fashion accessory at the Games, plays with a sort of poker-faced intensity that has made for internet memes. But her teammates, who have fun nicknames like Steak, Sunny and Pancake, have become nearly as recognizable to a growing number of fans across the country. They are Kim Kyeong-ae, 24, and Kim Yeong-mi, 26, who are sisters; and Kim Seon-yeong, 24. A fifth player, Kim Chohi, is the team’s alternate. (Her nickname is ChoCho.)
Their path to Olympic stardom was not without obstacles. In recent years, the Korean curling federation was roiled by a sexual abuse case that involved a former coach and by the misappropriation of training funds. But the players on the current team persevered, and banners featuring their faces and the Olympic rings are now scattered across Uiseong.
“They’re inspiring a lot of young kids to participate in winter sports, and not just curling,” said Do Ki-min, 29, who got an excused absence from work at the county office so he could watch Tuesday’s match at the high school. “My boss is here, too.”
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A sign at the entrance of Chulpa Village, home of the sisters Kim Kyeong-ae and Kim Yeong-mi. “We root for great games and root for the sisters, Kim Yeong-mi and Kim Kyeong-ae, and other players.”CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times
Kim Sung-hee, the woman who lost her voice from cheering too hard, said she was from the same neighborhood as the two sisters on the team. She had been watching their matches at a community center, she said. But as the wins kept piling up, it was starting to get pretty crowded.
Ahead of Tuesday’s match, an announcement was posted on the county’s official website that a viewing party would be held at the high school. Word spread around the county. Lee Jung-yong, an actor and entertainer from Seoul, was brought in to rev up the crowd — but that hardly seemed necessary. As Kim Sung-hee watched Kim Eun-jung and her teammates rough up the Americans, she cited one other possible reason for the team’s success.
“It’s definitely the power of the garlic,” she said. “It’s the healthiest food in the world.”
The region is known for its garlic. Cartoon garlic bulbs smile from billboards. Garlic statues dot the countryside. Kim Joo-soo, the mayor, deemed it the finest garlic in the world.
“We think so,” he said.
It is all because of a volcano that erupted 70 million years ago, he said, and left ash that enriched the soil.
Now, all these millenniums later, the city has sprouted something new.
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