It’s certainly a striking look.

Looking like something between an expert diamond dealer and a crack sniper for some renegade sci-fi army, the internet’s new favourite Olympian, South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji, is one of the Paris Games’ most notable stars so far.

This is the great thing about the Olympics. Before the games you’re looking forward to all the stuff you knew about before: maybe Sha’Carri Richardson in the athletics, Andy Murray’s farewell in the tennis or Simone Biles in the gymnastics.

But then there’s the stuff that you didn’t know you cared about, until you see it. And an incredibly cool-looking pistol shooter most certainly falls into that category.

Kim crashed into the online consciousness after she competed in the first of her two events in Paris, the 10m air pistol on Sunday.

The X account ‘Women Posting Ws’, which seems to be the root source of her viral status, wrote alongside a picture of Kim shooting at the target, back slightly arched, her shoulder high with her chin resting on it and her non-shooting hand in her pocket, that it was “the most aura I have ever seen in an image”.

The social media consensus seemed to be that Kim looked like some sort of robo-assassin from an action film, a killer from the near future that doesn’t need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle, because she looks plenty cool enough on her own, thank you very much. GQ magazine wrote that she looked “straight out of a cyberpunk fan-fic”. Glamour magazine asked if Kim is “the biggest badass of the Paris Olympics?” Elon Musk got involved too, but let’s not allow him to ruin it.

The contraption she wore isn’t actually a pair of glasses as such, more a sort of miniature scaffolding attached to her forehead that aid her performance. Over her left eye is a small black rectangle, a blinder that blocks out one eye and allows greater focus in the other. Over her right eye was a small black circle, actually a relatively common bit of kit that features a mechanical iris to help avoid blurring and allows greater focus on the target.

Subsequently, another clip of Kim in action started to do the rounds, of her in the same ‘glasses’ and with the same incredibly steady hand and android-esque calm, but with her cap on backwards this time. The clip shows her shoot her final shot, put down her pistol, lift up the blinder over her left eye and give an off-stage look that presumably was to just check the score, but to the viewer looked like she was eyeballing some unspecified doubter with a sense of Arctic-cold pity.

That clip isn’t actually from the Olympics, rather the World Cup in Baku earlier this year. She set the world record in that competition, on her way to winning the 25m pistol title. That’s the one she’ll be aiming for in her other event, which takes place on Friday.

Kim is 31, originally from Maepo, which is about 100 miles south-east of Seoul, and now lives in nearby Danyang. She’s been competing since 2006, and won bronze at the 2010 World Junior Championships in the 10m air pistol. On her profile on the International Sports Shooting Federation website, under ‘hobbies’ she simply lists ‘sleeping’.

There was another thing that only enhanced the sense that she is actually a character from a Luc Besson film. Usually in those highly stylised stories, the assassin has some form of unusual affectation. Maybe it’s a fascination for a particular type of music, or an adherence to an ancient code of conduct, or they have a pet budgie that they’re weirdly devoted to or something.

Kim was competing with a stuffed toy elephant strapped to her belt. Which you could put down as an individual eccentricity, but in fact it was a sort of lucky charm that belongs to her five-year-old daughter, who is back home in Korea.

After the 10m medal ceremony, Kim told reporters that she couldn’t wait to tell her daughter all about her success. When asked what she was going to say about the medal, and her new-found viral status, Kim said: “I think I have become a bit famous now.”

The one problem with all this, if you can call it that, is that Kim didn’t actually win. On this occasion, at least. The gold medal went to her compatriot Oh Ye-jin, 12 years Kim’s junior, who edged her out by just a couple of points, setting an Olympic record of 243.2. Kim scored 241.3, meaning they both beat the previous record of 240.3, set by Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina in Tokyo. India’s Manu Bhaker was a way back in third.

Oh burst into tears after winning gold. “I still cannot believe I’m wearing a gold medal on my neck right now,” said Oh. “Maybe as time goes by, I will believe it. This medal is very heavy, by the way.”

Kim wasn’t alone in having a little calling card: while for her it was the elephant, Oh had a little purple heart on the end of her pistol — not, unfortunately, while she was actually competing, but just for the pictures afterwards.

(Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

But just to add to the wholesome nature of the whole story, Kim could not have been more delighted for Oh, who is also her roommate in the athletes’ village in Paris.

“She’s like my little sister,” Kim told the Associated Press. “I always want to care for her and always be there for her. So when she won the gold medal, I was extra happy.

“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.”

The way with these things usually, when a sporting occasion or an athlete essentially becomes a meme, is that they come to people’s attention after the event, and are then gone, perhaps until the next comparable global event when people say, “Oh yeah, I remember her.”

However, this time the internet will have a second chance to witness Kim in all of her shooting glory when she competes in the 25-metre pistol event on Friday. And she seems pretty sure she’ll go one better, too.

“I am confident all the time… I, Kim Yeji, am going to win gold, no matter what.”

(Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

NANTERRE, France — American swimming star Katie Ledecky cruised to victory in an event that’s become synonymous with her name, earning her first Olympic gold medal of the Paris Games in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle Wednesday.

Ledecky set an Olympic record with a time of 15:30.02.

She has not lost this race in more than 14 years, and she owns the 20 fastest times in world history in the event. It is, for all intents and purposes, only an actual race for silver. France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova earned it in 15:40.35, while Germany’s Isabel Gose won bronze in 15:41.16.

Simply the greatest. 🙌

Katie Ledecky adds another gold medal to her legendary career achievements.#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/skbxzj1CAj

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

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The Olympic gold medal is Ledecky’s eighth, which ties Jenny Thompson for the most for an American woman. Many would already consider Ledecky the greatest swimmer in the sport’s history, but she’s also making a strong case for the greatest female Olympic athlete ever.

Ledecky needs one more gold to tie Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most gold medals for any female Olympian.

Ledecky, 27, has won 12 Olympic medals over four Games, and she’ll have a chance to add to that haul later this week with the women’s 800-meter freestyle (in which she is again a heavy favorite) and as part of the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

The Paris Olympics are only the second Games with the 1500 free as an event for women. Ledecky was vocal earlier in her career about wanting to swim the event — which has long been part of world championship meets — at the Olympics. It is fitting, of course, that she is the only woman to have won it so far. Her name belongs next to that sliver of history.

“It’s often said that distance swimming requires enduring an excruciating, mind-numbing tedium few other athletes experience,” Ledecky wrote in her memoir. “Hour upon hour, day after day, for months, years, decades, distance swimmers stare at the dark line marking the bottom of the pool, tracking and tracing it as we churn back and forth in our muffled bubble of virtual silence, plagued by a loop of our innermost thoughts, our bodies screaming in agony from the stress of pushing ourselves to the limits of exertion. For me, this is any given Saturday.

“I’m kidding, of course. I, for one, have never viewed my chosen sport as a source of pain. For me, swimming has been a pleasure, even when — or perhaps especially when — it tests my limits. That said, I’m not here to argue with the common perception that long-distance swims can brutalize the body and mind. They absolutely can.”

Ledecky has said she plans to swim in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympic Games, a stance she reiterated Wednesday night.

“I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet,” Ledecky said. “After seeing the kind of support that the French athletes are getting here, I think all us U.S. athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles, having the home crowd. That would be amazing.”

For more on swimming at the Olympics, follow The Athletic’s live blog.

Besides, Ledecky has always loved long-distance swims and will keep swimming them. She trains with coach Anthony Nesty and the male distance swimmers at the University of Florida, and she grew emotional earlier this week after earning a bronze medal in the women’s 400 free and discussing how much that training group has meant to her as both a swimmer and a person.

On Wednesday, though, there were no tears, only smiles and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Ledecky had won gold in her most dominant event in the most dominant fashion, and all was right in the pool.

Required reading

(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images; Graphic: John Bradford / The Athletic)

NANTERRE, France — French sensation Léon Marchand continued his spectacular run at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first swimmer in history to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the same Games. And he did it on the same night.

Marchand earned his first gold medal of the day in the 200-meter butterfly and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:51.21 in an incredible come-from-behind win over Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, who finished second in 1:51.75.

UNREAL. LEON MARCHAND WITH AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK TO IGNITE THE CROWD IN PARIS. 🇫🇷#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/oErY1zMUvu

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

About two hours later, Marchand set another Olympic record by swimming the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:05.85. It was arguably the greatest one-night swimming performance in Olympic history.

“I knew it was possible for me to do — to finish the races, but maybe not win them,” Marchand said. “I never knew (if I could win both).”

Earlier in the week, Marchand won a gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley. So, he’s three-for-three in gold, with one event left in his program.

He is just the fourth male swimmer in Olympic history to win more than two individual gold medals at the same Games.

“Marchand’s march to greatness CONTINUES!” 🇫🇷

Leon Marchand just can’t be stopped in his home country. He wins gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/DEAEFeIxG4

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

The 22-year-old Frenchman, competing in his home Olympics, has been under a microscope all meet, carrying the pressure and hope of his countrymen and women in each of his swims. And he’s absolutely delivered.

Marchand’s time of 4:02.95 in the 400 IM also set an Olympic record, breaking the mark set by Michael Phelps in 2008. It was Marchand’s first Olympic gold medal and a moment that gave him goosebumps. Marchand said he was proud of himself and also his country.

Wednesday was always going to be a highlight of Marchand’s program in Paris, with him hoping to swim in the finals of the 200 fly and the 200-meter breaststroke in a span of two hours. It’s an ambitious double with two grueling races, but a schedule that Marchand said he’d been prepared for because of his NCAA experience at Arizona State. He’s used to doubles and short turnarounds between races and felt confident he could handle this schedule here.

Marchand’s coach, Bob Bowman, told him he thought he could complete Wednesday’s double after the 400 IM final because of how strong his breaststroke looked.

Marchand said the last few days have felt “kind of like a marathon,” but he thought he had enough time to recover and prepare in between. Winning two gold medals in one night was a dream of his.

“I had two gold medals in two hours, and that is quite incredible,” he said.

Marchand has been confident in pretty much every setting he’s been in at his home Games. Paris La Défense Arena has embraced him with both arms, the crowd loud and rollicking each time he steps up to the starting block that a competitor compared the environment to the feel of a soccer match.

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND LISTEN. 🔉

Leon Marchand had the Paris fans in an absolute frenzy during his comeback win. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/3a5tdktQ0a

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 31, 2024

But Marchand had been preparing for this moment, and he knew coming into the meet just how hard he’d been working to succeed on this stage. Bowman has been through similar experiences with his former protege — Phelps. He’s tried to keep Marchand in his routine, avoiding as many potential distractions as possible.

“The main thing is just getting prepared in the water — the main thing is just swimming as fast as possible,” Marchand told The Athletic this spring. “But it’s also not only about swimming when it’s a home Olympics.”

A home Olympics also means that his smile is a bit bigger after he touches the walls and the cheers are even louder than he could ever have imagined.

Marchand has another opportunity to medal in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. He’ll swim in the prelims for that event Thursday morning.

For more on swimming at the Olympics, follow The Athletic‘s live blog.

Required reading

(Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)