Curling explodes in popularity after success of South Korea’s ‘Garlic Girls’ in Pyeongchang

The South Korean women won silver just 12 years after taking up the sport and there will be plenty more following them now

The 'Garlic Girls' are being treated like K-Popstars in Korea (Getty)

Had Eve Muirhead’s resolve held, we could have been experiencing such curling fever on British soil. As it is, the South Korean curling scene is enjoying an unusual boon as locals go wild for the centuries-old sport that originated in Scotland and has since spread through the ice-packed regions of the world.

Though Sweden would beat Korea in the gold medal match, led by their unshakeable and ultimately unstoppable skip Anna Hasselborg, it still feels on the peninsula as if the host nation were the winners. A sport barely known in Korea a month ago has captured its heart and Seoul.

They may sound like a band, but ‘The Garlic Girls’ have caught the country’s imagination for their screaming and shouting rather than their singing. They are also now sought-after individuals for advertising campaigns, the subject of thousands of online memes and even some impromptu catchphrases.

What started as a barked instruction on the ice sheets of the Guangneung Curling Centre during South Korea’s improbable journey to silver has become cult. “Yeong-mi ya” and “Hey Yeong-mi” were phrases wailed by the Korean skip, Kim Eun-Jung, as she gave guidance to lead sweeper Kim Yeong-mi during their silver-medal campaign. To a nation learning the rules as they went, those shouts quickly caught on and now simply having the name Yeong-mi is now proving to be very rewarding indeed.

The Associated Press reports that budget airline Tway Air is giving away 200 round-trip tickets to Japan – conquered by South Korea in the curling semi-finals – to people named Yeong-mi. The Samsung Blue Wings, one of Asia’s best-known baseball teams and four-time Korean champions, have extended an invite to their season opener to anyone boasting that now-famous name. Amusement parks, arcades, restaurants and shops are all joining in while brands inundate the curlers with opportunities to cash in on their new-found fame.

Being known as The Garlic Girls might lead to a number of obvious food tie-ins but the team only picked up the name because they are from the remote region of Uiseong, where Korea’s first curling centre happened to open in 2006. 12 years later, the girls were celebrating Olympic medals on home soil.

And while there is no actual garlic involved, the girls do – rather confusingly – boast nicknames that include “Pancake” for the aforementioned Kim Yeong-mi, “Steak” for her sister Kim Kyeong-ae and “Annie” for skip Kim Eun-Jung. Annie is a brand of Korean yoghurt. Kim Seon-yeong is known as “Sunny” for her sunny-side-up eggs preference and Kim Cho-hi is named “Chocho” after a type of local biscuit.

Though the food theme stays strong, the Garlic Girls themselves prefer to be known as ‘Team Kim’ given they all share Korea’s most common family name. And as much as they try to dampen excitement surrounding their nation’s newest sporting sensation, they are right in the middle of it so may as well buckle up for the ride ahead.