A day after Kim Ye-ji won a silver medal in the 10m air pistol event at the Olympic Games in Parisshe discovered that the internet had decided she was the coolest shooter on the planet.
The sensation was sparked by a video of the 31-year-old South Korean casually setting a world record in May wearing a black cap on backwards, sci-fi-style shooting glasses and a pink elephant doll strapped to her hip. The clip inspired fan art, video montages and a suggestion from Elon Musk on X that she should star in an action movie.
She was the heavy favourite for gold in the 25 metres, but a mistake in the qualifying round – she failed to fire her shot within the required three-second time – cost her a trip to the final.
The Times spoke with Kim via Zoom from Paris about her sudden viral fame and the joys and frustrations of her Olympic debut. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you find out that you had become famous online?
I’m not that active on social media. I only have six or so posts on Instagram and I didn’t have a Twitter account, so I didn’t find out until much later.
The day after my 10-meter final, we had a team dinner and my 25-meter pistol coach said, “Ye-ji, I saw you became a world star.” Then someone said Elon Musk had mentioned me.
Then I started working through all the posts and Instagram DMs. I’ve got so many now because I type really slowly.
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What were some of your favorite reactions?
There were many messages saying that they learned a lot from me, that my mindset gave them hope, and then others saying that they were inspired to go shoot because of me.
I was really touched because I was actually really scared. So I was really encouraged by how many people messaged me to tell me that my interview gave them courage.
Do you mean the interview where you laughed about your loss in the 25 meter qualification?
Yes, I said that it’s not like the world will end just because I scored a zero.
I really believe that. I wanted to tell people that no matter what sad or demoralizing things happen today, the sun will rise tomorrow and all those other things can go down in history. I really believe that words have power, so I always try to tell myself positive things. It’s like brainwashing or hypnotizing myself.
But some people were angry about my reaction, because they saw it as a sign that I wasn’t taking the Olympics seriously.
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Can you tell us about the moment when you didn’t shoot within the three-second window? Is that a common occurrence in sports? What happened there?
I made bigger mistakes earlier in my career. You’re supposed to check your gun after every shot to see if it fired the empty cartridge, but I messed up a few times when I was still learning the 25-meter section. I once missed three out of five shots because of it.
But this was the biggest mistake I made since I joined the national team. I got greedy because I wanted to hit the ball just right. It turned out that I missed my shot by exactly 0.01 seconds.
After it happened, I was furious with myself.
The internet went crazy over that world record breaking video, especially your outfit and “killer aura” back then. Can you tell us something about your outfit?
The eyepiece is common. Most shooters compete with a blinder on one eye to keep the muscles relaxed.
I don’t know where the media heard that the elephant doll was a gift from my daughter, but that’s not true. It was actually a towel that my coach gave me because our hands get greasy from loading rounds into our guns. It’s a very practical tool.
Same goes for the hat. I wear it to keep my hair out of my face. I wear it forward when the light is too bright, but otherwise I wear it backwards because it helps keep my eyepiece in place.
One of the most striking things in the video was how unfazed you seemed after breaking a world record.
I checked the score and I knew I had broken the world record. But my reaction at that moment was more like, “Good. That’s done. Now let’s get ready for the next one.”
Shooting is a very niche sport, especially in South Korea. How did you get into it?
I started when I was in sixth grade. Our gym teacher at the time was also the coach of the shooting team, which I didn’t know at first. Then one day he said to the class, “Who wants to shoot? Raise your hand.” I was curious, so I raised my hand.
Later, at the shooting range, I saw some older students practicing. They looked cool, so I told him I would join the team.
He told me to ask my parents for permission, but when I asked them, they were very much against it. But because I am a very stubborn person, I refused to eat and cried for three days until they agreed.
From day one I told myself I had to be the very best.
How did you know that for sure, especially at that age?
I was fascinated by the pose and the image of shooting a gun. I just wanted to shoot one because it looked fun. But it wasn’t just the shooting itself that looked cool. I was drawn to the idea of a team working together for a common goal.
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Was your talent for shooting immediately apparent?
Yes, I was always told I had a natural talent for it.
I’ve always been a very sleepy person, so I would often take naps between sessions. And then my coach would wake me up and say, “Go beat that record,” and I would wake up and shoot a ridiculously high score.
What is the most important quality that makes someone a good shooter?
It would be calmness and concentration. You have to be able to immerse yourself in it completely.
I saw in an interview with one of your coaches that you were firing about 300 practice shots a day, compared to the average of 150. I think a lot of people can’t imagine what that’s like.
Shooting is a sport where you concentrate on one thing and do the same action over and over again. Doing that 300 or 400 times a day has an interesting effect on you.
The biggest physical symptom is the inflammation in your shoulder from lifting so much. But the biggest is the mental exhaustion. It’s enough to make you go straight to bed at the end of the day.
I think anyone who has done unskilled work can relate to this. It is incredibly mentally taxing, but once you get into the flow and lose yourself, time flies. The joy and beauty of it is in studying the small details and the feeling of the gun snapping back in your hand.
Elon Musk raised the possibility of you appearing in a movie. If a studio or producer offered you a cameo as a sniper, perhaps in a John Wick-style action movie, would you consider it?
I haven’t really thought about it seriously. I’ve had requests to appear on TV, but I don’t know. I think I need to focus on my primary commitment, which is shooting. And I also think people want to see Kim Ye-ji the shooter, not another version of me.
But I’m still grateful to Elon Musk for bringing shooting sports to the public’s attention.
You’ve already said that you have your sights set on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
These Olympics feel like a turning point in my life. I realized that I can still improve so much. That is the most meaningful lesson I learned this time.
Up until this point I thought I was a perfect shooter with absolutely no weaknesses to work on, and I think that’s part of the reason why I slipped up the way I did.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
