CNN
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She’s impossibly cool, casually breaks world information and is the web’s newest darling. And whereas her cap and futuristic glasses are merely purposeful accoutrements on the earth of aggressive capturing, they wouldn’t look misplaced on a road style-inspired runway.
She’s Kim Yeji, the 31-year-old South Korean sharpshooter who has taken social media by storm following her look on the Paris Olympics.
Kim gained silver on the 10-meter air pistol occasion on Sunday, along with her 19-year-old teammate Oh Ye Jin taking the gold.
Nevertheless it was an older video of Kim competing in Azerbaijan in Could that went viral on X, previously Twitter, gaining greater than 7 million views and a horde of latest followers in only a few days.
Within the video, Kim wears a backwards cap over her blunt bob, her steely gaze mounted on the goal via a pair of capturing glasses — a chunk of specialist eyewear that helps athletes concentrate on the goal but in addition appears to be like like one thing out of a science-fiction film.
Her arm prolonged and head tilted down, she fires and barely reacts because it emerges she has set a brand new world file. She flips up her glasses’ lens to stare instantly on the digital camera earlier than glancing impassively on the close by display.
Photos from her Sunday efficiency additionally circulated extensively on-line, with folks complimenting not solely her unflinching expression but in addition her black Fila jacket, Sauer capturing footwear and the stuffed toy elephant that hung from her pocket as she competed.
A photograph displaying Kim leaning again with one hand resting nonchalantly on her hip and the opposite holding a pistol, her ponytail flicking out from the again of her cap, was shared by the X account Ladies Posting W’s with the caption “probably the most aura I’ve ever seen in a picture.” It has since been preferred over 300,000 instances.
Different posts on X, every boasting a whole lot of 1000’s of likes, applauded her “primary character power” and declared her “mom,” the last word stamp of approval in Web-speak. The platform’s proprietor, Elon Musk, in the meantime commented that Kim “must be solid in an motion film.”
Kim, a first-time Olympian, will subsequent compete on the qualifying spherical of the 25-meter pistol occasion on Friday.
Kim and Oh’s podium end displays South Korea’s power in capturing, with the nation taking house medals within the occasion at each version of the Summer season Olympic Video games since 2000.
Kim and Oh are roommates within the Olympic Village, according to the Associated Press, with Kim saying Oh was like a sister to her.
“I all the time need to take care of her and all the time be there for her. So when she gained the gold medal, I used to be additional completely satisfied,” she advised the information company forward of Sunday’s occasion.
“I don’t view her as my rival. It is a huge stage, the Olympics, and we gained the gold and silver. Once we gained these medals, we have been so proud we’re Koreans.”