A fencer, a shooter and a special selfie: World falls in love with Korea's Olympic stars

Olympic Sports

A fencer, a shooter and a special selfie: World falls in love with Korea's Olympic stars

Published: 01 Aug. 2024, 18:13 Updated: 01 Aug. 2024, 19:18

YIM SEUNG-HYE
yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr

Sabre player Oh Sang-uk [YONHAP]

Team Korea is breaking a sweat in its effort to collect medals at this year’s Paris Olympics, with the country ranking at No. 6 on the Olympic medal table as of Thursday. There's no doubt that the 12 medals, including six golds, are a testament to the years of blood, sweat and tears of the athletes, but Team Korea is under the spotlight for more than just their talent.

Korean athletes in the past have been in the global spotlight for their attractive looks as well as their top-notch talent. Olympians of the past — like figure skater Kim Yuna, freestyle swimmer Park Tae-hwan and badminton player Lee Yong-dae — used to attract global attention and fandom when they competed in their respective sports. However, it's unprecedented for a handful of Korean athletes to go viral all at the same time for boasting different charms.

Behind the mask

Fencer Oh Sang-uk spreads out the Korean flag after winning men's sabre individual at Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees in France on July 28. [YONHAP]

Unless you are a real fan of fencing, it's not easy to catch a glimpse of a fencer's face, as their masks obscure their faces from being seen while they compete. But Korean fencer Oh Sang-uk, 27, managed to steal the hearts of global viewers who got to see glimpses of his face when he took off his mask from time to time to wipe his sweat.

The sabre athlete began receiving global attention after short clips of his performances and interviews were shared on the Brazilian Instagram account @im.nanda on Sunday with the caption: “The reason I watch the Olympics.” The post has over 300,000 likes, more than 7,600 shares and over 2,700 comments as of Thursday. Oh also left a comment under the post in English saying, “Why am I here...??”

Other online comments could be found saying “Time to shift from K-drama to K-Olympics,” and, “Where [can I] watch his match? Please tell me I really [want to] watch.”

Oh's recent Instagram post uploaded on Sunday — which celebrated his gold medal win against Tunisian player Farès Ferjani in the Men’s Individual Sabre Final — is flooded with comments from his new fans in foreign languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, English and more. Oh has gained over 100,000 followers on his Instagram account since this year’s Olympics started on July 27.

Fencer Oh Sang-uk spreads out the Korean flag after winning men's sabre individual at Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees in France on July 28. [YONHAP]

Netizens flooded the comments once more, leaving heart emojis and lauding his looks. Korean comments were also found saying, “This is hilarious,” and, “Bow in the direction of your parents, Oh.”

Oh has won two gold medals so far at this year’s Paris Olympics, one for the Men’s Individual Sabre, and the other for the Men’s Team Sabre, along with teammates Gu Bong-gil, Park Sang-won and Do Gyeong-dong. This feat is a historic first for an Asian sabre athlete.

An action star is born

Kim Ye-ji listens to her coach at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on July 27. [YONHAP]

Kim Ye-ji, left, and Oh Ye-jin during the women's 10-meter air pistol final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on July 28. [JOINT PRESS CORP/SDH]

Sports shooter Kim Ye-ji might just be the coolest woman in the world at the moment.

If fencing star Oh is charming fans with his looks, Kim, who also balances shooting with being a mother of a six-year-old daughter, is wowing global viewers with her cool attitude and the way she looks while competing. Despite winning silver in the women's 10-meter air pistol on Sunday, video clips of Kim competing nonchalantly have been going viral online. An older video of Kim's performance at the ISSF World Cup in May is also going viral on X, gaining more than 7 million views on the platform. It was during this event that she broke the world record.

The combination of Kim's steely gaze, baseball cap, black tinted glasses and one hand in her pocket has caught the eye of viewers. Oh, the elephant toy attached to Kim's pants was the cherry on top.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned Kim on X after seeing her performance. "She should be cast in an action movie," he said on Wednesday.

CNN also published an article on Kim with the headline, "The Internet is in love with South Korea's record-breaking Olympic shooter," on Wednesday. The article said she's "impossibly cool, casually breaks world records and is the internet's latest darling."

Oh Ye-jin, left, and Kim Ye-ji bite down on their gold and silver medal at the women's 10-meter air pistol final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on July 28. [JOINT PRESS CORP/HC]

Kim Ye-ji during the women's 10-meter air pistol final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on July 28. [YONHAP]

Kim Ye-ji prepares to shoot for the women's 10-meter air pistol final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on July 28. [GETTY IMAGES]

Korean fans have been sharing Kim's interview clips with Korean media, saying she has "so many charms."

"When she is competing, she looks like the coolest sniper and when she is doing an interview, she is so lovable," one comment read under an interview clip with Kim right after her silver medal win.

Kim's next event is the qualifying round of the 25-meter pistol on Friday.

A very special selfie

Table tennis player Lim Jong-hoon, far right, takes a selfie with his teammate Shin Yu-bin, right, Team China and Team North Korea. [HERALD BIZ]

Korean table tennis players Shin Yu-bin, right, and Lim Jong-hoon celebrate after their victory on the mixed doubles bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday at South Paris Arena 4 in France. [JOINT PRESS CORP/SS]

Table tennis player Lim Jong-hoon became a viral figure for promoting the Olympic values of friendship and respect, whether he intended to or not. China, North Korea and South Korea took the podium after winning the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, for the mixed doubles table tennis event. Lim and Shin Yu-bin won bronze for South Korea, the first medal for South Korea in the sport in 12 years, resulting in Lim being exempted from the mandatory military service he was due to begin on Aug. 19 straight after returning home from the Olympics.

The happy Lim decided to take selfies with the Chinese and North Korean players on the podium with his new Samsung phone. While the Olympics traditionally didn’t allow phones to be carried around by the athletes, the competition went a different route this year, with a prior agreement between Samsung, the Games' sponsor, and the IOC. Samsung handed out its Galaxy Z Flip6 to all the athletes prior to its official launch earlier this month.

Such a group photo is a modern Olympic tradition, but this one especially has been garnering attention, as the two Koreas are famously divided and its people are forbidden from talking to each other.

Lim's act is being hailed by international viewers, who said it was the most "human moment" they've seen at this year's Olympic Games.

"Unity is power," "This is what the Olympics should be all about" and "That display of sportsmanship deserved a standing ovation" are some of the comments left underneath the selfie uploaded on the South Korean government's official Instagram account for the Olympic Games. Some expressed concern as well, saying, "I hope the North Korean players didn’t face any repercussions for this."

Snacks, anyone?

Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin eats a banana before the match with Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem at South Paris Arena 4 in France on July 30. [KBS2]

Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin eats a banana before the match with Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem at South Paris Arena 4 in France on July 30. [YONHAP]

Shin is also a viral star for a different reason — for being a foodie. Photographs and videos of Shin eating different foods while taking breaks during the games at the Paris Olympics have been going viral. The foods included bananas, flat peaches and rice balls.

Though these foods are quite common, Shin takes out her phone and tries her best to take the best shots of them before gulping them down. Witnessing these "aww" moments, netizens instantly signed up as Shin's fans, requesting food companies to use her as their model.

Fans also discovered an old video clip of SBS's entertainment program "Star King," where a five-year-old Shin was featured in 2009 as a table tennis prodigy. In the video, she says she likes "table tennis more than food and my friends."

Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin, serving on the mixed doubles bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday at South Paris Arena 4 in France. [JOINT PRESS CORP/KCK]