It is unquestionably a powerful look.
Looking like a cross between a talented diamond dealer and a top sniper from a renegade sci-fi army, South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji, the web's latest favorite Olympian, is probably the most notable stars of the Paris Games to date.
That's the beauty of the Olympics. Before the games, you stay up for all of the belongings you already knew about: perhaps Sha'Carri Richardson in athletics, Andy Murray's farewell in tennis or Simone Biles in gymnastics.
But then there are belongings you didn't even know you cared about until you see them. And an incredibly cool looking pistol gun actually falls into that category.
Kim caused a stir online after competing in the primary of her two events in Paris, the 10m air pistol, on Sunday.
The X-account “Women Posting Ws,” which appears to be answerable for her viral popularity, wrote next to a photograph of Kim shooting at a goal along with her back barely arched, her chin resting on her shoulders, and her non-shooting hand in her pocket, that this was “the strongest aura I've ever seen in a photo.”
(Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
The consensus on social media was that Kim looks like some sort of robo-assassin from an motion movie, a near-future killer who doesn't need your clothes, your boots, or your motorcycle because she looks cool enough on her own, thanks very much. GQ magazine wrote that she looked like she was “straight out of cyberpunk fanfiction.” Glamour magazine asked if Kim was “the biggest badass of the Paris Olympics.” Elon Musk also weighed in, but let's not let him spoil it for us.
The device she wore wasn't actually glasses, but reasonably a sort of miniature framework attached to her brow that helped her visualize. Above her left eye was a small black rectangle, an iris that covers one eye and allows the opposite to focus higher. Above her right eye was a small black circle, actually a comparatively bizarre device with a mechanical iris that stops blurring and allows for higher concentrate on the goal.
Another clip of Kim in motion subsequently made the rounds, wearing the identical “glasses” and the identical incredibly regular hand and android-like composure, but this time with the cap on backwards. The clip shows her firing her final shot, putting down her pistol, raising the visor over her left eye, and giving a glance from the background that was presumably just to ascertain the rating, but to the viewer looked like she was gazing an unnamed doubter with arctic-cold pity.
This clip isn't actually from the Olympics, but from the World Cup in Baku earlier this yr. She set the world record at that event and won the 25m pistol title along the best way. That's her goal for her other competition, which takes place on Friday.
Kim is 31 years old and originally from Maepo, about 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul. She now lives in nearby Danyang. She has been competing since 2006 and won bronze within the 10-meter air pistol on the 2010 Junior World Championships. In her profile on the International Sports Shooting Federation website, she only lists “sleeping” under “hobbies.”
There was something else that reinforced the impression that she was actually a personality from a Luc Besson film. Usually in these highly stylized stories, the assassin has some kind of bizarre demeanor. Maybe it's a fascination with a certain sort of music, or an adherence to an ancient code of conduct, or they’ve a pet budgie that they're strangely dedicated to, or something like that.
Kim competed with a stuffed elephant attached to her belt. One might dismiss this as a person eccentricity, but in point of fact it was a sort of good luck charm belonging to her five-year-old daughter, who’s back home in Korea.
After the 10m medal ceremony, Kim told reporters that she couldn't wait to inform her daughter all about her success. When asked what she would say concerning the medal and her newfound viral status, Kim said, “I think I've become a little bit famous now.”
The only problem with all this, in the event you can call it that, is that Kim didn't actually win. This time, anyway. The gold medal went to fellow countrywoman Oh Ye-jin, 12 years younger than Kim, who beat her by just a number of points, setting an Olympic record of 243.2 points. Kim scored 241.3 points, which saw them each beat the previous record of 240.3 points set by Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina in Tokyo. India's Manu Bhaker finished a distant third.
Oh burst into tears after winning the gold medal. “I still can't believe that I'm wearing a gold medal around my neck now,” Oh said. “Maybe I'll believe it with time. This medal is very heavy, by the way.”
Kim was not the just one with a small calling card: While for her it was the elephant, Oh had a small purple heart on the tip of her gun – unfortunately not through the actual competition, but just for the photos afterwards.
(Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
But to make the entire story much more enjoyable, Kim couldn't have been happier for Oh, who can be her roommate within the athletes' village in Paris.
“She's like my little sister,” Kim told the Associated Press. “I always want to take care of her and always be there for her. So when she won the gold medal, I was especially happy.”
“I don't see her as my rival. The Olympics are a big stage and we won gold and silver. When we won those medals, we were so proud to be Korean.”
When a sporting event or an athlete essentially becomes a meme, it's normally something that folks begin to notice afterward after which fade away – perhaps until the following similar global event, when people say, “Oh yeah, I remember them.”
This time, nevertheless, the web may have a second likelihood to see Kim in all her marksmanship when she competes within the 25-meter pistol competition on Friday, and she or he seems pretty sure she'll go one higher.
“I am always confident… I, Kim Yeji, will win gold no matter what happens.”
image credit : www.nytimes.com