Kim Eun-jung (curler)

Kim Eun-jung, nicknamed "Annie"[1] (born November 29, 1990) is a South Korean curler from Uiseong. She currently skips her own team on the World Curling Tour. Kim skipped the national team from 2016 to 2018 and represented Korea on home ice at the 2018 Winter Olympics where her team won a silver medal.[2]

In this Korean name, the family name is Kim.
Kim Eun-jung
Curler
Kim Eun-jung in 2018
Born (1990-11-29) November 29, 1990
Uiseong, North Gyeongsang, South Korea
Team
Curling clubUiseong CC,
Uiseong, KOR
SkipKim Eun-jung
ThirdKim Kyeong-ae
SecondKim Seon-yeong
LeadKim Yeong-mi
AlternateKim Cho-hi
Career
Member Association South Korea
World Championship
appearances		2 (2017, 2018)
Pacific-Asia Championship
appearances		4 (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017)
Olympic
appearances		1 (2018)
Medal record
Women's Curling
Representing  South Korea
Olympic Games
2018 Pyeongchang Team
Asian Winter Games
2017 SapporoTeam
Pacific-Asia Championships
2016 Uiseong
2017 Erina
2014 Karuizawa
2012 Naseby
Pacific-Asia Junior Championships
2010 Nayoro
2011 Naseby
2012 Jeonju
Kim Eun-jung
Hangul
김은정
Revised RomanizationGim Eunjeong
McCune–ReischauerKim Ŭnjŏng

Career

As a junior skip, Kim led South Korea to three-straight silver medals at the Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships.[3] In 2010, she lost in the final to China's Liu Jinli,[4] in 2011 she lost to Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura,[5] and in 2012 she lost to Yoshimura again.[6][7]

Right after juniors in April 2012, Kim earned her first non-junior national title at the South Korean Curling Championships, which are held every spring to qualify the winner as the national team for the following season. At the 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, the South Korean team skipped by Eun-jung finished in third place after losing the semifinal to Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa, and therefore failed to qualify for the world championships.[8]

After failing to win the championship in 2013, Kim captured the national championship again in April 2014. At the 2014 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, she skipped South Korea to an unbeaten 8–0 round robin record and a semifinal win over New Zealand. However, in the final, she lost against China's Liu Sijia on an extra-end steal, narrowly missing a berth to the world championships.[9] Later that season, her Korean team competed at the 2015 Winter Universiade where they lost in a tiebreaker to Switzerland's Michèle Jäggi.[10]

Despite not winning the national championship for the 2015–16 season, they had a great season on the World Curling Tour. They won three tour events to start the season, the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic,[11] Canad Inns Women's Classic[12] and the Uiseong International Curling Tour. They also competed in four Grand Slam of Curling events, and reached the semifinals of the 2015 Tour Challenge where they lost to Rachel Homan.[13] They finished seventh on the money list for the season, with $61,617.[14]

In April 2016, Kim Eun-jung claimed her third national championship by beating a high school curling team skipped by Kim Min-ji in the final.[15] At the 2016 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, her South Korean team went through the round robin with a 6–1 record and once again won the semifinal over New Zealand.[16] Then in the final, she defeated China's Wang Bingyu to capture her first Asia-Pacific title.[17] This qualified her South Korean team for the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship, her first World Championship. They finished the round robin with a 5–6 record, failing to advance to the playoff round.

In May 2017, Kim Eun-jung defended her national title at the 2017 South Korean Curling Championships, which also served as trials for the 2018 Winter Olympics, by winning the best-of-seven final over Kim Min-ji's junior team 4–1 after defeating Gim Un-chi in the best-of-five semifinal 3–2. This qualified her and her longtime squad of vice Kim Kyeong-ae, second Kim Seon-yeong and lead Kim Yeong-mi for their first Olympic berth, which they had missed four years before with a loss to Kim Ji-sun in the final of the 2013 South Korean Curling Championships. Later that year Kim and her team defended their title at the 2017 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, going a perfect 12–0 through the tournament.[18]

The 2018 Olympic curling team of skip Kim Eun-jung, vice Kim Kyeong-ae, second Kim Seon-yeong, lead Kim Yeong-mi and alternate Kim Cho-hi, coached by Peter Gallant of Canada, received celebrity status for their strong performances despite entering the tournament as underdogs.[19] Korea topped the round robin standings with just one loss to Pacific-Asian rivals Satsuki Fujisawa. Their wins included defeating heavily favoured Canada, Great Britain and Sweden.[20] They then advanced to the final by defeating Japan in an extra end before losing to Sweden to claim the silver medal.[21] They also gained international recognition due to fans dubbing them the "Garlic Girls", since they all came from Uiseong which was long known for its garlic production but has recently become Korea's curling capital.[22] Since all five team members share the same surname Kim, and as their actual names are hard to pronounce, the team members adopted breakfast-themed nicknames Sunny, Steak, Pancake, Annie (a brand of yogurt) and ChoCho (a type of cookie).[23] Kim Eun-jung "Annie" is also known for her owl-eyed glasses.[24][25] The next month, the team played in the 2018 World Women's Curling Championship where they qualified for the playoffs with an 8–4 record.[26] In the quarterfinals, they lost to the United States Jamie Sinclair, eliminating them from contention.[27]

The "garlic girls" did not play much during the 2018–19 season, amidst a coaching scandal, which involved the country's sport federation vice president verbally abusing the team and taking prize money away from them.[28] As she was preparing to give birth, Kim Eun-jung did not play in the 2019 WCT Arctic Cup with her team, the last event of the season.[29] Alternate Kim Cho-hi played lead as the rest of the team moved up the line-up a position. They finished with a 1–3 record, missing the playoffs.[30]

Team Kim returned to the World Curling Tour for the 2019–20 season but Eun-jung would not play in their first few events. With Kim Kyeong-ae skipping, her team qualified for the playoffs at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic, the 2019 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and finished runner-up at the inaugural WCT Uiseong International Curling Cup.[31] Her first event back on the ice was the 2019 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic where she threw second rocks but still called the team. They reached the quarterfinals, losing to Kerri Einarson. Team Kim also made it to the quarterfinals at the 2019 Canad Inns Women's Classic the week after, where she returned to throwing skip stones. They made it to the final of the 2019 Changan Ford International Curling Elite and finished fourth at the 2019 China Open in December 2019.[32] In the new year, they had a quarterfinal finish at the International Bernese Ladies Cup and they won the Glynhill Ladies International.[33] It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[34]

Personal life

Kim graduated from Uiseong Girls' High School, which has produced many talented curlers in educational cooperation with the Uiseong Curling Center. She also graduated from Daegu University. She married in the summer of 2018.

Grand Slam record
Key
C Champion
F Lost in Final
SF Lost in Semifinal
QF Lost in Quarterfinals
R16 Lost in the round of 16
Q Did not advance to playoffs
T2 Played in Tier 2 event
DNP Did not participate in event
N/A Not a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
Masters DNP DNP Q QF DNP DNP DNP
Tour Challenge N/A N/A SF DNP T2 DNP DNP
The National N/A N/A Q Q DNP DNP DNP
Canadian Open N/A DNP Q DNP SF DNP DNP
Players' DNP DNP DNP DNP Q DNP N/A
Champions Cup N/A N/A DNP DNP DNP DNP N/A

Former events
Event 2013–14 2014–15
Autumn Gold DNP Q
Colonial Square QF DNP

Teams
Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate
2009–10[35] Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miOh Eun-jin
2010–11 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeOh Eun-jinKim Yeong-miKim Seon-yeong
2011–12 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Ji-hyeon
2012–13 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Min-jung
2013–14 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Min-jung
2014–15 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Min-jung
2015–16 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Min-jung
2016–17 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Cho-hi
2017–18 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Cho-hi
2018–19 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Cho-hi
2019–20 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Cho-hi
2020–21 Kim Eun-jungKim Kyeong-aeKim Seon-yeongKim Yeong-miKim Cho-hi

References
  1. "Team EunJung Kim". Grand Slam of Curling. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  2. "Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 - "If sketching is dreaming, participating in the Olympics is colouring" … meet Team Korea". Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  3. "Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships: Past Results". New Zealand Curling. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  4. "2010 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships". World Curling Federation. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  5. "2011 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships". World Curling Federation. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  6. "2012 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships Results". World Curling Federation. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  7. "2012 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships". World Curling Federation. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  8. "Kim 8–2 at 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  9. Video (full game): 2014 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships - Final - China (Liu Sijia) vs South Korea (Kim Eun-jung) on YouTube
  10. "2015 Winter Universiade Result Book" (PDF). Winter Universiade Games 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  11. "Kim wins 2015 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  12. Resby Coutts (October 24, 2015). "Korea's Team Kim Wins Canad Inn's Women's Classic". The Curler. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  13. Jonathan Brazeau (September 13, 2015). "Gushue to play for Tour Challenge title on home ice". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  14. "2015–16 Money List". World Curling Tour. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  15. "Kim wins 2016 Korean National Championship". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  16. Video (full game): 2016 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships - Semifinal - Korea (Kim Eun-jung) vs New Zealand (Chelsea Farley) on YouTube
  17. "Korea women win gold at home Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2016". World Curling Federation. November 12, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  18. "2017 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships". World Curling Federation. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  19. Raisa Bruner (March 9, 2018). "Everyone's Favorite Olympics Curling Star Showed Up to the Paralympics Opening Ceremony". Time. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  20. "PyeongChang Olympics Day 12". Reuters. February 21, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  21. "South Korea's curling silver brings Olympic spirit to life". CBC. February 25, 2018. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018.
  22. "Olympics-Curling-Uiseong celebrate more Garlic Girls' success". Reuters. February 23, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  23. David Moye (February 20, 2018). "South Korea's Women Curlers Have Nicknames Like Pancake, Steak And Yogurt". Huffpost. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  24. Gelineau, Kristen; Kim, Hyung-Jin (February 23, 2018). "The 'Garlic Girls' Are the Real Rock Stars of the PyeongChang Olympics". Time. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  25. Laura Armstrong (February 23, 2018). "Garlic Girls give South Korea a taste for curling". Toronto Sun. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  26. "Five of six playoff spots set at Ford World Women's Championship". Curling Canada. March 23, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  27. "Canada - U. S. rematch set up for semifinal at Ford World Women's Championship". Curling Canada. March 24, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  28. "South Korean curling official leaves sport over alleged abuse of 'Garlic Girls'". CBC Sports. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  29. "The first Asian team in the history of Arctic Curling Cup". Arctic Cup. May 8, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  30. "Kim 1–3 at 2019 WCT Arctic Cup". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  31. "WCT Recap: Rocque, Tardi back in win column; Jacobs tops Koe in Toronto". TSN. October 5, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  32. Video (full game): 2019 Changan Ford International Curling Elite - Final - Kim Eun-jung (Korea) vs Alina Kovaleva (Russia) on YouTube
  33. "Kim wins 2020 Glynhill Ladies International". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  34. "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  35. "Kim Eun-jung Past Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
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