A South Korean Olympic sharpshooter who won silver in the women’s 10-meter air pistol event also gained popularity earlier in the week.
In videos of herself and her teammate locking up the top two shooting scores in Paris on Sunday, the 31-year-old Kim appeared almost unnaturally composed. She was dressed in her black South Korea uniform, which was zip-tied up to her neck, a baseball cap, and shooting glasses with wire frames.
Following her victory, a 27-second video of Kim discharging her weapon, taking aim, and verifying her record-breaking score in the same incredibly composed manner went viral.
The video, which looks to have originated from a Reddit thread, really shows Kim in Baku, not Paris, but at the World Cup in May.
However, the video appeared online alongside pictures of Kim from Paris even after social media platform X reported several postings for distributing the picture out of context.
Style magazine GQ swiftly dubbed Kim “the coldest style star of this year’s Games.”
According to GQ, the first-time Olympian showed up to the Chateauroux Shooting Centre looking like a sci-fi assassin dressed in ultra-contemporary sportswear.
In a single day, a video post declaring Kim to possess “the most main character energy” garnered over 28 million views.
The video has inspired fan art of Kim, numerous modifications that set the scene to K-pop songs, and countless memes—some of which talk about her distinct “aura”—have been created.
Kim will be shooting again this week in Paris. She now holds the top four positions in the women’s 10-meter air pistol and the fourth place in the 25-meter pistol.
Fans will be able to witness Kim in the preliminary round on Friday and the finals on Saturday, as she truly excels in the 25-meter event.
“I always have confidence in myself. No matter what, I, Kim Ye-ji, am going to win the gold,” she declared to reporters.
Kim, who lists her hobbies as “sleeping”, told South Korean media that she was looking forward to speaking to her five-year-old daughter after all her events are over. When asked what she wants to tell her, Kim said gleefully of her new online notoriety: “I think I have become a bit famous now.”
