Perhaps the brightest spotlights are on Simone Biles’ pirouettes, Léon Marchand’s strokes or the on-court complicity of Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, but the unexpected scene-stealer of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has a much lesser-known name. Kim Yeji, a 31-year-old South Korean shooter, has recently tasted sporting success by winning the silver medal in the women’s 10-metre air pistol event – her compatriot Oh Ye Jin won gold. But her time in the French capital has guaranteed her something much more difficult to achieve among the more than ten thousand athletes who meet there: media and viral glory.
“I have never seen such a ‘big main character’ energy in my life.” This was one of the first tweets, with half a million likes to date, that exposed the digital world to Yeji’s tremendous aura. Users share feelings of fascination, amazement and even a certain intimidation at the shooter’s unfazed pose and attitude in the middle of the competition.
Her style plays a key role: a black Fila windbreaker zipped up to the neck, a baseball cap hiding a ponytail underneath, her hand in her pocket, ear piercings and precision glasses with flip-up lenses reminiscent of a futuristic sniper’s scope. Even described as the coolest person alive at 157 centimetres tall and 45 kilos in weight, Yeji doesn’t even make a gesture of joy when she hits the target, she remains calm and passionless, as if winning a medal were something routine. To complete her style icon look, the ultimate detail: a small stuffed animal in the shape of an elephant hangs from her waist. According to the Korean press, it belongs to her five-year-old daughter and has become her personal talisman. Her attitude is not accidental. “I am always sure of myself,” she says. stated in a medium of his native country.
“He looks like an action movie star,” he says. USA Today“She has the attitude of an ultra-contemporary sci-fi assassin,” he adds. GQ. “The gold medal for the toughest aunt at the Games goes to her,” she confirms. Wired. Such has been the impact of the Korean that it has given rise to an endless number of illustrations, fanfictions or video montages that pay tribute to her. The owner of X himself, formerly Twitter, the controversial Elon Musk, assures that “she should star in a film without having to do any casting” and the networks compare her with other stone heroes of recent cinematography such as John Wick or Jason Bourne. She is aware of the expectation that her figure raises: the followers of her Instagram accountanonymous until just a few hours ago, have quadrupled – and counting. On TikTok, a single video about her has more than ten million views.
The shooter, who lives in Danyang County, also showed great sportsmanship, celebrating the gold medal won by her compatriot – and Olympic Village roommate – Oh Ye Jin in the final duel between them. Speaking to APconfirmed that she did not consider her “a rival”, but that for her this very young shooter of only 19 years is like her little sister. “The Olympic Games are a big stage and we won gold and silver. When we got these medals we felt very proud to be Korean. I thought it didn’t matter who won gold.” For those fascinated by the charismatic aura that surrounds Yeji, they have a new date with her on August 2. The shooter will compete again in the 25-meter air pistol category, in which she holds a world record, and she already warns that she will “try to win a gold medal.” Surely thousands of Twitter users from all over the world will applaud each of her shots.
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