Triathlon team details abuse ‘hell’

Former teammates of a South Korean triathlete found dead last month after alleging she had been abused by her coaching staff said on Monday athletes endured an “abyss of hell” and were habitually beaten and verbally abused.

Choi Suk-hyeon, a member of the South Korea national triathlon team, reportedly killed herself at her team dorm after leaving a message to her mother asking her to “reveal the sins” of her abusers. She was 22.

Choi did not reveal names in the message, which was released by a lawmaker last week, but her family and teammates said she had suffered years of physical and verbal abuse from her coach, physiotherapist and captain of her Gyeongju City team.

Her coach and captain denied any wrongdoing at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.

A sports ministry official told the hearing that the physio was a friend of the coach and was working with the team despite not having a license. He is no longer with the team and Reuters was unable to contact him.

One of Choi’s former teammates, who did not give her name and wore a mask to conceal her identity, told a news conference before the hearing that the team was “a kingdom built only for the coach and certain members”.

“The coach and the captain habitually beat and verbally abused Suk-hyeon and us,” she added.

In one instance, the coach forced them to eat 200,000 won ($167) worth of bread and then throw it all back up as a penalty for drinking a cup of cola and gaining weight, she said.

Another teammate described life in the athletes dorm as the “abyss of hell” but said she believed this was the world athletes had to live in.

The sports ministry and South Korean Sport and Olympic Committee pledged a thorough investigation on Monday.