At the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, South Korean speed skater Shin Seok-hee joined her teammates on the podium to compete for gold – the highest moment of her sporting career.
Fast forward to 2022, and the shim situation has changed dramatically before next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Last October, the short-track speed skater was banned from training after a series of text messages she sent were leaked, causing controversy in her home country.
After a two-month investigation, the Korea Skating Union (KSU) Committee announced on December 21 that Shim would be suspended for two months, saying she had "undermined the dignity of athletes."
The suspension means the two-time Olympic gold medalist will not be able to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, scheduled to begin Feb. 4.
To overturn the suspension, Shim has the option to appeal to the Fair Play Committee of the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee (KSOC) or to take the case to court.
It all started in October 2021, when Shim's text messages with the former national women's skating team coach were leaked. In the message, Shim mocked her teammates and discussed making "Bradbury," which raised suspicions about game manipulation.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Australian speed skater Steven Bradbury was at a disadvantage in the 1000m short track final, remaining in last place until the final lap when his companion crashed and he slid across the finish line to receive the Gold Medal.
Last December, the KSU Investigative Committee also investigated the collision between Shim and her teammate Choi Min-jeong in the 1000m final in Pyeongchang four years ago and concluded that Shim deliberately pushed Choi's left arm during the race.
However, the committee did not formally end the charges against the match as there was no evidence of Shim's intentions.
The KSU Fair Play Committee, which administers discipline, later suspended Shim for two months on charges of "undermining the dignity of athletes" after she admitted to belittling her teammates in a series of text messages.
Obligation to uphold dignity and illegal disclosure of texts
As part of her appeal to compete in Beijing, Shim filed an injunction in January to lift the two-month ban, but the Seoul Eastern District Court rejected the request on Jan. 18.
An official at KSU said in a statement that the court ruled that her text messages violated the obligation of national athletes to maintain dignity because they were sent during the Winter Olympics, when Shim represented South Korea.
Shim, who spoke in the record without authorization, told CNN that they had debated in court whether it was fair to include the content of individual text messages in the country's obligation to preserve dignity.
Her side also claimed that the text messages were illegally leaked to the media by former coach Zhao Zaifan, who was found guilty of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Shim representatives said they told the court that cho's leaked personal information allegedly constituted "secondary harm" to Shim.
KSU countered that the "strict rules of evidence" do not apply to civil lawsuits and that the two-month suspension was the result of a union investigation; Shim had publicly admitted and apologized for laughing at her teammates.
"These text messages were exchanged on the assumption that they would not be made public, but were subsequently leaked by other [Cho] criminal acts," Shim's representative said.
The legal representative said the punishment was excessive
Representative Shim also claimed that the two-month suspension was too long because she had already been eliminated by the national team in October and was unable to participate in the Islamic Skating Union World Cup in November.
They said KSU did not reflect the "penalties" since October when discussing a separate two-month suspension in December.
However, KSU denied ever issuing a double penalty, claiming that separating Shim from the rest of the team was "not a disciplinary measure."
In October, an official at KSU told CNN that they had separated Shim from the squad because "it was difficult for [Shim and the national team] to train together" because the text messages she leaked would affect the team's viability, noting that an investigation was needed.
He led the 2018 Pyeongchang Women's Short Track 1,000m Preliminary Round.
Despite finishing first in the National Olympic Trials in May, Shim can no longer dream of competing in Beijing, which will be her third Winter Olympics.
Her legal representative told CNN that because the court proceedings take time, there are no plans to appeal, and any decision is unlikely to be made weeks before the Olympics, with a two-month suspension ending Feb. 20.
Without Shim, South Korea still managed to secure five spots in the women's short track speed skating in Beijing. On January 24, KSU presented Olympic participants to the Korea Sports and Olympic Committee – Choi Min-jeong, Lee Yoo-bin, Kim A-lang, Seo Hye-hye and Park Ji-yun.