South Korea’s Speedskating Community Faces Reckoning After Rape Allegations

Damir Sagolj/Reuters

SEOUL, South Korea — When the #MeToo movement started gaining traction in South Korea last year, many people looked to the country’s sports communities, which have long been dogged by allegations of corruption and physical abuse. But few victims spoke out.

That changed this month, when Shim Suk-hee, 21, a member of South Korea’s national short-track speedskating team and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, said she had been repeatedly raped by her former coach, Cho Jae-beom, since she was 17.

Mr. Cho, 38, was fired as national team coach shortly before the start of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, last year on allegations of violent abuse against athletes. In…