In a Winter Olympics full of geopolitical drama, an authentic feel-good sports story is unfolding, courtesy of the “Garlic Girls”, as the media have dubbed the South Korean women’s curling team. A country that was barely aware of the sport a decade ago now has a team that is on the cusp of a gold medal, as South Korea advanced to Friday’s semi-final against Japan.

The five-person team — four players and one alternate — finished the round-robin stage with a sterling 8-1 record, having beaten curling’s top five countries: Canada, Switzerland, Russia, Great Britain and Sweden.

Even more surprising is that the athletes do not hail from one of South Korea’s global metropolises such as Seoul or Busan. The women’s team, as well as 14 out of the 15 South Korean representatives in Olympic curling, come from the tiny rural town of Uiseong, in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, which, as the garlic growing hub of the country, sparked the athletes’ nickname.