South Korea sent two shooters to the women’s 25-meter pistol event at the Paris Olympics, though it didn’t always feel like it.
Kim Ye-ji, after winning silver in the 10m air pistol, emerged as an overnight sensation on social media in the days leading up to the 25m pistol competition, her main event. The video of Kim setting a world record in the 25m pistol during a World Cup event in Baku in May, all the while maintaining a cool, detached look of someone who couldn’t care less, went viral on X. Even the owner of the social media platform, Elon Musk, chimed in with a comment, “She should be cast in an action movie. No acting required!”
Unable to live up to the hype, Kim didn’t even qualify for the final held on Saturday. Her lesser-known teammate, Yang Ji-in, was the lone South Korean representative in the final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, south of Paris.
And while Kim got all the spotlight, Yang captured the coolest prize of them all — an Olympic gold medal.
Yang defeated Camill
e Jedrzejewski of France 4-1 in a shoot-off after the two were all tied at 37-37 after 10 series of shots. A score of 10.2 points or higher was scored at a hit in the final, and Yang was on target with four of her five shots in the shoot-off, while the French shooter only managed one hit.
Kim might have been the epitome of cool on social media, but Yang just may be even more carefree than her more famous teammate. This is someone whose life motto is “Whatever will be, will be. My future self will take of it.”
Yang has said both her strength and her weakness as a shooter is her inability to care. It can indeed be a double-edged sword for athletes in such a mental sport. It is important to be able to put mistakes behind quickly and focus on the next shot. But lean too far into that direction, and athletes risk falling into a trap of not caring enough about miscues and learning from them.
On Saturday, Yang apparently struck the perfect balance.
Yang held a three-point lead early in the final but with three s
eries left, she only held a one-point advantage. She then let Jedrzejewski draw even at 33-33 in the ninth and penultimate series.
Yang held steady and scored four hits in her final series to match the French shooter, setting up a nervy shoot-off.
With her facial expression not changing one bit, Yang calmly scored four hits with her final five shots. Jedrzejewski missed on her first three shots and finished with just one hit.
Yang, who gives off a more ebullient vibe away from the range, said she was a nervous wreck during the shoot-off, despite how she might have looked on the outside.
“I didn’t show it but inside, I was really nervous,” Yang said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, what do I do now?’ But I knew I didn’t come all the way to France just to lose this here. I kept telling myself I could do this.”
Lost in the shuffle of the Kim Ye-ji mania is the fact that Kim broke Yang’s world record set in January. Yang even matched her own record at the same World Cup in Baku before Kim unseated her.
Yang’s gold was
South Korea’s third gold in shooting here and its fifth medal overall, matching its highest total at a single Olympics. Yang said she felt the burden of having to keep up the momentum after fellow shooters in rifle and pistol events had grabbed medals.
And this is where Kim’s presence in the final would have helped, Yang said.
“I guess I could afford to relax a bit more, but I put some pressure on myself to do well,” Yang said. “And being the only Korean in the final added to that pressure. It was such a shame she didn’t make it. I could have felt more comfortable if she had been around.”
Yang said Kim, who cheered on from the stands, and other teammates gave her words of encouragement before the final.
“They said I should just keep doing what I’ve been doing all along,” Yang said. “And I left everything out there. I have no regrets now.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency