Shim unable to compete at National Winter Sports Festival

Shim Suk-hee races during the 2020 National Winter Sports Festival on Feb. 18, 2020 at Tancheon Sports Complex in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. [YONHAP]

Short track speed skater Shim Suk-hee will not be competing the National Winter Sports Festival that starts Friday at Uiam Ice Rink in Chuncheon, Gangwon.

Shim had been serving a two-month suspension from the Korean short track team that ended at the start of this week, a day after the 2022 Beijing Olympics finished, but is still unable to compete at the top Korean winter sports tournament.

On Dec. 21, two months before the Beijing Games, Shim was suspended from the national team for two months for insulting her teammates during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and effectively excluded from the Korean national team entry.

Even though Shim's suspension has now been lifted, she was unable to apply to compete in the National Winter Sports Festival because athletes are not allowed to apply while suspended.

However, Shim is technically now able to rejoin the national team and compete at the ISU World Championships starting March 18 in Montreal, Canada. However, the nature of the suspension — for insulting other athletes — raises questions over whether Shim will actually be able to slot back into the team and resume training.

Text messages that showed Shim insulting her teammates during the PyeongChang Games were released as part of the written opinion of lawyers for former national team coach Cho Jae-beom, who is currently in prison for sexually and physically assaulting Shim. The text messages also sparked an investigation into whether Shim was involved in race fixing, although she has subsequently been cleared.

The alleged race fixing accusations date back to the collision between Shim and Choi Min-jeong during the women's 1,000-meter final at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, when the two fell while turning the final corner. After a video review, Shim was disqualified and Choi missed out on a medal, taking fourth place.

Shim had applied for an injunction against the disciplinary action on Jan. 6, but was rejected by a Seoul Court on Jan 19, excluding her from competing at the Beijing Games.

On Feb. 18, Choi returned from Beijing as the Korean athlete with the most medals from the 2022 Winter Olympics. Choi won the women's 1,500-meter gold medal, the 3,000-meter relay silver and women's 1,000-meter silver at the Games.

Olympians Hwang Dae-heon, Park Jang-hyuk, Kim Dong-wook, Lee Yu-bin and Seo Whi-min will compete in the National Winter Sports Festival short track competition, while Choi, Kim A-lang and Kwak Yoon-gy are missing the tournament.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]