Kim Eun-jung (curler)

Kim Eun-jung
Curler
Born	(1990-11-29) 29 November 1990 Uiseong, North Gyeongsang, South Korea
Team
Curling club	Uiseong CC, Uiseong, KOR
Skip	Kim Eun-jung
Third	Kim Kyeong-ae
Second	Kim Seon-yeong
Lead	Kim Yeong-mi
Alternate	Kim Cho-hi
Curling career
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 Sapporo Team 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 Romanization	Gim Eunjeong
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Ŭnjŏng

Kim Eun-jung, nicknamed "Annie" (born 29 November 1990) is a South Korean curler. She currently skips the South Korean national team, and represented the country on home ice at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Career

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

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 her finished in third place after losing the semifinal to Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa, and therefore failed to qualify for the world championships.

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.

In April 2016, Kim Eun-jung claimed her third national championship by beating in the final a high school curling team skipped by Kim Min-ji, which had earned bronze at the world junior championships the previous month. At the 2016 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, the South Korean team skipped by her went through the round-robin with a 6-1 record and won the semifinal over New Zealand. Then in the final, she defeated China's Wang Bingyu to capture her first Asia-Pacific title. Later that season, marking her debut at the world championships, Kim and her South Korean team finished the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship round-robin in sixth place with a 5-6 record and failed to make the playoffs.

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 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.

The 2018 Olympic curling team of skip Kim Eun-jung, vice Kim Kyeong-ae, second Kim Seon-yeong and lead Kim Yeong-mi, coached by Peter Gallant of Canada, have received celebrity status for their strong performances despite entering the tournament as underdogs. Korea finished topped the round robin with just one loss while defeating heavily-favored Canada and Sweden, and then advanced to the final where they lost to Sweden to claim the silver medal. 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. Since all five team members and their coach shared the same surname Kim, and as their actual names were hard to pronounce, the team members adopted breakfast-themed nicknames Sunny, Steak, Pancake, Annie (a brand of yogurt) and ChoCho (a type of cookie). Kim Eun-jung "Annie" was also known for her owl-eyed glasses.

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.

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
Tour Challenge	N/A	N/A	SF	DNP	T2
Masters	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	DNP
The National	N/A	N/A	Q	Q	DNP
Canadian Open	N/A	DNP	Q	DNP	SF
Players'	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Champions Cup	N/A	N/A	DNP	DNP

Former events

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

External links

• Kim Eun-jung on the World Curling database
• Kim Eun-jung on the World Curling Tour database (archived)