Viewers’ jaws dropped glaring at Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon’s abs, and fans felt uplifted by American rugby player Ilona Maher’s body positivity. And in the age of social media, athletes like Simone Biles can now easily bring up topics close to their hearts, like racial bias. But it is now South Korea’s pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji who has taken the internet by storm.
Highlights
- Kim Ye-ji, South Korean pistol shooter, won the silver medal at the women’s 10-meter air pistol event.
- Kim became an internet sensation for her ultra-cool demeanor and stylish appearance during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
- Kim's older video from Azerbaijan in May, showing her with a backward cap and piercing focus, went viral with over 8.5 million views.
- Her first-time Olympian status is highlighted, with Kim's next competition being the 25-meter pistol event on August 2.
People watching the 2024 Paris Olympic Games were quick to notice the 31-year-old’s ultra-cool demeanor after she won the silver medal at the Women’s 10-meter Air Pistol event on Sunday (July 28).
Kim's roommate and compatriot, Oh Ye Jin, took the gold medal, The Guardian reported on Wednesday (July 31).
As a result, an older video of the impossibly badass athlete resurfaced on X (formerly known as Twitter), showing Kim competing in Azerbaijan back in May.
In the clip, which amassed over 8.5 million views, Kim wore a cap backward over her stylish bob cut as her piercing eyes fixed on the target through a pair of shooting glasses.
South Korea’s pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji is the latest Olympic athlete to take the internet by storm
Image credits: McQuillan/Getty
The Danyang native’s arm was filmed extending with her head tilted down before firing her weapon and barely reacting as she set a new world record.
A person wrote: “She's officially the coolest person on the planet; unbelievable aura.”
“The way she flipped up the eye cover,” a netizen added.
A separate individual chimed in: “Every gesture every movement just brims with ease and confidence i want TO BE HER.”
Image credits: McQuillan/Getty
Images from Kim’s Sunday performance also circulated widely online, with people complimenting not only her unflinching expression but also her black Fila jacket, Sauer shooting shoes, and the stuffed toy elephant that hung from her pocket as she competed, CNN reported on Wednesday.
A photo showing the sharpshooter leaning back with one hand resting nonchalantly on her hip and the other holding a pistol, her ponytail flicking out from the back of her cap, was shared on X.
A handful of admirers complimented the photograph, which has been viewed 8 million times, as an observer penned: “I hope she knows the internet is in love with her.”
A cybernaut noted: “Literally every photo of her has 10000+ aura.”
“One of the hardest pics out right now,” someone argued.
An older video resurfaced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that showed Kim competing in Azerbaijan back in May
Image credits: 뉴스바
A fan quipped: “Babe I would honestly even thank her for aiming at me lmaooo.”
“Couldn't have been said better!” an X user stated. “The emotional and visual impact of her at-the-ready, highlighting her concentration, the tension of the competition, and the elegance of her form--it all creates an almost palpable energy we can see. just, amazing!”
Someone revealed: “The elephant doll is her daughter's one. She is a true mother.”
Kim, a first-time Olympian, will next compete in the qualifying round of the 25-meter pistol event on Friday (August 2), as per CNN.
Kim and Oh’s podium finish reflects South Korea’s strength in shooting, with the country reportedly taking home medals in the event at every edition of the Summer Olympic Games since 2000.
Kim spoke fondly of her gold medal-winning 19-year-old roommate, telling AP News on Sunday: “She is like my youngest sibling, and I always want to care for her and always be there for her. So, when she won the gold medal, I was extra happy.”
The internet sensation continued: “I do not view her as my rival. This is a big stage, the Olympics, and we won the gold and silver.
“When we won these medals, we were so proud we are Koreans. I thought it did not matter who won the gold.”
Oh and Kim were the last two shooters left in a format that eliminates competitors one by one. “We could really help each other, so there was less pressure for us,” Oh told AP News.
At the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, it was Team Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina, who was 19 years old at the time, leaving viewers stunned.
Kim won the silver medal at the Women’s 10-meter Air Pistol event on Sunday (July 28)
Back then, a photograph shared on X of the athlete drew comparisons between Vitalina’s rad stance and a Quentin Tarantino character.
Vitalina’s pair of cyborgian spectacles worn during her performance became viral on social media.
Esoteric Olympic sports tend to come with esoteric kits, and shooting glasses are among the oddest pieces of industrial design you'll find at the Games, Wired reported in 2016.
“Pretty much everybody uses them these days,” Scott Pilkington, a gunsmith who has worked with past Olympic marksmen, told the monthly American magazine.
That's because the key to sharpshooting isn't really about focusing on the target itself; it’s about aligning your mark with your firearm's front and rear sights.
“The ability to hit the target is your ability to correctly hold those two alignment points up against the target,” Scott explained. This is harder than it sounds, but shooting glasses make it reportedly easier.
These optical accessories look complex because they are, Wired stated. Shooting glasses are endlessly customizable; a pair from Swiss manufacturer Champion’s Choice is made from nearly 100 different pieces.
Nevertheless, the most complicated rigs typically boil down to three basic components: a lens, a mechanical iris, and a series of blinders that dangle from the frame like charms on a bracelet.
According to the outlet, the lens can be ground to a sharpshooter's optical prescription, but that's not really what it's for.
Kim's roommate and compatriot, Oh Ye Jin, took the gold medal
Image credits: McQuillan/Getty
An eye at rest would rather focus on a distant object than one that is near at hand, as focusing on something in the foreground requires effort and can lead to fatigue.
Adding just a touch of lens power (+0.50 diopter, for the opticians in the house) to a sharpshooter's prescription can help her sighting eye bring her gunsights into focus and keep them there, even as she concentrates on aligning them with the target in the distance, Wired explained.
However, bringing a gun's sights into sharper focus can make the target go fuzzy. "Your eye is like a camera lens," Tom Gaylord, a competitive air gunner, told the publication.
As Wired explained, if you were armed with a camera instead of a pistol, bringing the target back into focus would be as simple as narrowing the aperture of your lens.
Image credits: ISSF - International Shooting Sport Federation
This increases the range of distance within which objects will appear in focus (aka "depth of field," for the photographers in the house).
A greater depth of field means you can hold a target that's 30 feet away and a pair of gunsights hovering at arm's length in focus all at the same time.
A shooter typically mounts his mechanical iris to his shooting glasses just behind his lens. This lets him control the depth of field of his own vision.
Twisting the iris narrows its aperture and reduces the amount of light that reaches the shooting eye, bringing the target and both sites into sharper focus than would be possible without the glasses, the outlet wrote.
Kim, a first-time Olympian, will next compete in the qualifying round of the 25-meter pistol event on Friday (August 2)
Image credits: McQuillan/Getty
"The less light you can tolerate, the greater your depth of view will be," Tom said.
The blinders reportedly serve a similar purpose by reducing the amount of light entering the shooter's pupils.
Moreover, the opaque plastic tiles also work to obscure the movements of other shooters and visuals that might otherwise distract an athlete.
“I use them to block the vision of my non-dominant eye,” Jason Turner, a three-time Olympic marksman, told Wired.
"As a man [I] am intimidated by her," a reader commented
