Some have called her “the biggest bada– of the Paris Olympics” and the “2024 Olympics’ first breakout style star.” One social media user remarked, “The most ‘main character energy’ I’ve ever seen in my life.”
But these accolades aren’t for or . They’re for South Korean sharpshooter Kim Yeji, whose cool confidence and chic get-up have captivated the internet.
Kim won the silver medal in the women’s 10-m air pistol event on Sunday. But it was a clip from her earlier appearance at the ISSF World Cup in May that went viral this week, propelling the 31-year-old to online fame.
Sporting a backwards baseball cap and with one hand tucked into her pocket, Kim calmly shoots at the target. Then, she flips up the cover on her futuristic-looking shooting glasses to check her score. With minimal reaction, she breaks a world record in the 25-m air pistol event.
When asked by reporters what she thought she could improve, she replied simply: “There is nothing to improve.”
The clip and photos of Kim have sparked countless memes— showing her alongside action movie protagonists like Keanu Reeves’ John Wick, Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, and Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall, with the caption “I’m assembling a team”—and even on social media, particularly from (some of whom were to apparently discover she’s a married mother).
Billionaire Elon Musk replied to video posts of Kim on X, the platform he owns, “She should be cast in an action movie. No acting required!” “Would be cool to have a shooting world champion in an action movie.”
Kim brought her signature nonchalance—or “” as have it—to Paris, where she was spotted with a small plush elephant doll clipped to her side, believed to be a gift from her .
Not much is publicly known about Kim. According to her brief on the Olympics website, she picked up the sport in middle school because “she was curious about shooting,” and her ambition is “to win an Olympic medal.” (Her hobby? “Watching movies.”)
But despite her apparent indifference on the range, Kim was all smiles when she shared the podium with South Korean compatriot 19-year-old Oh Ye Jin, her roommate who grabbed gold and who Kim describes as a “youngest sibling.” Both Kim and Oh broke the Olympic record in the women’s 10-m air pistol event that was previously set by Russian shooter Vitalina Batsarashkina in Tokyo.
“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,” Kim told the .
But the first-time Olympian has made clear that she remains armed with aspirations for a gold medal of her own. And she still has the chance to fulfill that dream. Kim’s next event is on August 2, when she will compete in the .
“I am always confident,” she after getting silver on Sunday. “At worst, I will try to win one gold medal.”