2018 Winter Olympics South Korean Women Curlers: Get to Know the Team That Defeated China

The South Korean women curlers are a few matches away to possible gold medal in the ongoing 2018 Winter Olympics after they defeated China and assured a spot in the semi-finals. The team claimed their fourth win on Sunday and bumped the Chinese to the fourth place in the standing. South Korea now sits tied for second overall in the standings at 4-1 with Japan.

The five-member team started the match strong as they scored three points in the first and third ends. They added four points to take a 10-2 lead at the fifth end. China tried to mount a comeback, scoring two in the sixth and another in the seventh to cut the lead of South Korea to five.

However, skip Kim was able to slide her hammer throw through to score two points in the eighth. This forced the Chinese to concede with two more ends to go. The South Korean women curlers earlier crushed the United Kingdom and defending Olympic champion Canada.

South Korea Women's Curling Team's Odd Nicknames

All members and even their coach have the same last name and that is Kim. This is why they are also called "Team Kim." Although they use their English names on the ice, coach Kim Min Jung has her own system on how to address her athletes, ESPN reported.

Whenever coach Kim Min Jung needs to call a member of the time, she calls out the player's first name initial first and then the last name to avoid confusion. So when she needs team's skip Kim Eun-jung, she calls for E. Kim. Other members are Kim Seon Yong or S. Kim, Kim Kyeong Ae is K. Kim, Kim Yeong Mi is called Y. Kim, and Kim Chohi is C. Kim.

So for who are asking if the team members are sisters or related to each other, not quite. Only two members are actually sisters - Kim Kyeong Ae and Kim Yeong Mi. The squad has been using their English names - Pancake, Sunny, Steak, Yogurt, and Chocho - on ice. The names were decided during a tournament in Canada a couple years ago.

Apparently, the names are in reference to their favorite food. Eun-jung is "Yogurt" or "Annie" as in Annie's Yogurt. Kyeong-ae is "Steak" while her sister Yeong-mi is "Pancake." Seon-yeong is "Sunny" (for sunny-side up eggs) and Chohi is "ChoCho."

The "Garlic Girls" 

Aside from being called as the "Team Kim," the South Korean women's curling team is also called the "Garlic Girls."This is because three members of the group attended the same high school in Uiseong. The county in South Korea is known for its garlic.

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics is the first Olympics tournament for the team but they have competed in other international games. They are back-to-back winners of the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in the last two years and ranked 12th in the World Curling Tour.