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From hardship to fellowship: Short tracker Shim Suk-hee reclaims gold at the Games

Published: 19 Feb. 2026, 09:45 Updated: 19 Feb. 2026, 12:57

LEE JIAN
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Short track speed skater Shim Suk-hee trains for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics at an ice rink in Milan on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]

Shim Suk-hee, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in short track speed skating, made her victorious return to the Games on Wednesday, as her team took home gold in the women’s 3,000-meter relay.

Despite years of controversy within the national short track program — much of it centered on former world No. 1 Shim — the team at Milan-Cortina came together in a dramatic race. With about two-thirds of the relay completed, Korea fell behind after a light collision with a Dutch skater who went down. With five laps remaining, Shim tagged her teammate Choi Min-jeong with a powerful push, propelling her into second place ahead of Canada. Kim Gil-li then surged past Italy on the final laps, stopping the clock at 4:04.014.

"There were many difficult moments during the preparation for the Olympics and today in the finals," Shim told reporters at the Milano Ice Skating Arena after the race. "I feel overwhelmed with emotions right now because all the athletes in the team hung in there well and we were able to overcome everything."

Korea's women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay team celebrates its gold medal at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 18. From left: Shim Suk-hee, Noh Do-hee, Lee So-yeon, Kim Gil-li and Choi Min-jeong. [YONHAP]

Short track speed skating takes place on a 111.12-meter-long (364.5-foot-long) track. Medals are decided by finishing order rather than lap times. In the women’s 3000-meter relay, each team typically consists of four skaters, who take turns skating one to two laps at a time before pushing a teammate into the race during exchanges. It is widely known as Korea's strongest winter sport, though in Milan-Cortina, the 3,000-meter women's race marks the country's only gold medal in both individual and relay events as of Wednesday night in Italy.

Shim made her Olympic debut at the age of 17 at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where she nabbed three medals, including a gold in the women's 3,000-meter relay. She continued her winning streak with another gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics' women's 1,000-meter relay.

She had to sit out the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, suspended for misconduct. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics marked her return to the Games after eight years. She celebrated her 29th birthday last month in Milan.

Shim Suk-hee, third from left, races during the women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay held at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 18. [NEWS1]

The skater began short-track speed skating as a 6-year-old in Gangwon, following her older brother, who started skating before her, to the ice rink.

At 14, she made her international debut at the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships. Her breakthrough came at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games, where she won gold in two individual races, setting her on course for Olympic glory.

Following career-defining wins at two winter Games, Shim’s skating trajectory took a turn. In 2018, reports that Shim was sexually and physically abused by her then-40-year-old male coach, Cho Jae-beom went public.

Shim Suk-hee leaves the courtroom after testifying about the assault she suffered in the second appellate hearing of former national team coach Cho Jae-beom held at the Suwan District Court in Gyeonggi, on Dec. 17, 2018. [NEWS1]

In court, Shim testified that abuse began when she was in the first grade. In fourth grade, she was allegedly beaten with an ice hockey stick, resulting in a fractured finger. The violence intensified after she entered middle school, when she said that she and her teammates were beaten together in enclosed spaces, and that some teammates suffered injuries such as ruptured eardrums, wrist and hand fractures, while in severe cases, some were forced to quit skating altogether.

“Because the abuse happened so habitually, it is difficult to even recount everything that occurred,” Shim said during the second hearing of the appeal on Dec. 17, 2018.

She also alleged that around 20 days before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which ran through February 2018, she was beaten with fists and kicks so severely that she thought, “I might die from this.” She said she was struck repeatedly in the head and sustained a concussion.

“However, as a national team athlete whose ultimate goal was the Olympics, I was afraid that speaking out would bring disadvantages to my career, so I could not reveal the abuse to the outside world,” she said. Shim claimed that former coach Cho had threatened her by saying, “If you tell anyone about this, your career is over.”

Her testimony, extensively supported by training logs, personal notes and text messages, served as key evidence as the court handed Cho a 13-year prison sentence in 2021 on charges of sexually assaulting Shim on approximately 30 occasions between 2014 and 2017. It also triggered other athletes to speak about their experiences of abuse from coaches.

"What Shim Suk-hee described was very similar to the physical abuse I experienced during my own athletic career," retired short track speed skater Joo Min-jin told the JTBC in a 2018 December phone interview.

“In order to properly support athletes, coaches and managers also need to study and learn. But instead, they continued to rely on outdated methods — excessive training and physical punishment — simply repeating old approaches even though better training methods exist."

A few months after Cho’s sentencing, Shim found herself in the news yet again, ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics — this time involving allegations against her.

Short track speed skaters Choi-Min-jeong, right, and Shim Suk-hee collide and fall during the 1000-meter race at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games held at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangwon on Feb. 22, 2018. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A written opinion by lawyers representing her former coach Cho contained snippets of text messages from Shim insulting her teammates during the PyeongChang Games, along with insinuations that the fall with Choi wasn't just an unfortunate collision that resulted in a disqualification for Shim and a fourth-place finish for Choi, robbing her of a medal.

With the release of the messages, Shim was accused of attempting to fix the race. Messages with her then-coach, reported on by an online news outlet, appeared to hint at deliberate sabotage.

The news rocked Korea's short track scene, and Shim faced an investigation by the Korea Skating Union.

Shim released a statement apologizing for the use of offensive language, while denying allegations of intentional collisions, saying that she had “never once thought about deliberately falling during an Olympic final or bringing down another skater in the process.”

Shim was eventually cleared, but was still banned from competing for two months for using vulgar and derogatory language to refer to her teammates, including Choi. That two-month ban forced her to sit out the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The fallout impacted the senior team. Despite persisent insistance in the media that Shim and Choi were rivals, the pair denied it — until the messages came to light. Soon, Choi proclaimed that her trust had been broken and that she could no longer train or compete alongside Shim.

The national team's short track speed skaters and coaches pose for a photo as they celebrate the birthday of Shim Suk-hee, center, in Milan on Feb. 1. Choi Min-jeong stands third from right. [NEWS1]

Physically, Shim, measuring 175 centimeters in height (5 feet, 9 inches), pairs best with lighter and more agile athletes like Choi. When Shim generates speed and momentum before pushing Choi in the relay exchange, it maximizes the team’s performance.

For years, however, the pair’s strained relationship prevented the team from utilizing that combination. It was only ahead of the 2025-26 Olympic season that Choi seemed willing to join forces with Shim once again. Starting with the 2025–26 International Skating Union (ISU) World Tour, the relay order was adjusted so that Shim pushed Choi during exchanges.

Choi was also seen in a photo taken during Shim's birthday celebrations on Jan. 31.

Shim echoed the image’s sense of team spirit and unity in an interview last month.

"Back at my first Olympics, I had older skaters help me out in so many different ways," Shim told local news outlet Yonhap in a January article. "And I've been trying to figure out how I can best assist my teammates in whatever ways possible.

"I want to leave it all on the ice. I also want to show our fans that we can compete and battle as one team. We've been training really hard, and we want to demonstrate the best version of ourselves once the competition starts."

After her third gold at the Milan-Cortina Games, she again emphasized collaboration.

"I was able to win each time because I had good teammates," she told reporters after the women's 3,000-meter relay on Wednesday. "Moving forward, I plan to live each day to my best."

The Korean women's short track speed skating team poses together before training for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics at an ice rink in Milan on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]