Breaking the Ice

South Koreans take enormous pride in watching their speed skaters win top honors, including October's haul of 15 out of 20 gold medals at World Cup skating events in China. But national pride turned to anger last week after allegations surfaced that at least three members of the South Korean women's team may have been victims of beatings by some of their coaches. According to three unsigned letters sent to a local news agency, the coaches allegedly administered frequent lashings with plastic skate guards, hockey sticks, shoes and skate sharpeners: "Anything could be turned into a rod," read one letter. The letter writers have not come forward, but their claims of violence were repeated to TIME by both a current member of the women's national team and a former skater close to the team. "What is described in the letters is only the tip of the iceberg," says the former skater. "They aren't treated like human beings."

Disputes over alleged mistreatment of athletes are nothing new in South Korea. Gifted children are drafted into the country's sporting machine and subjected to harsh training regimes and a boot-camp culture whose simple ethic, critics say, is that sticks are better than carrots. Still, many Koreans were shocked by descriptions of the violence and the age of the athletes: the skaters described in the letters are all teenagers.

Fourteen skating officials resigned over the controversy last week, including two coaches and six vice presidents of the Korea Skating Union, which oversees the national team. The coaches could not be reached for comment, but Lee Chi Sang, one of the vice presidents who resigned, calls the allegations "exaggerated" and insists coaches have the right to get rough. "To train the athletes to accomplish more, the coaches had no choice," says Lee. "It was not beating, it was not violence, it was punishment." It remains to be seen if the union will get a taste of its own medicine.