In the latest episode of You Quiz On The Block, viral star Kim Ye Ji from the 2024 Paris Olympics shared stories about how she came to be Korea’s hottest pistol shooter.
Kim explained when she first started shooting as a paid athlete on a team, she felt pressure like never before. The desire to “deserve the paycheck being paid” became so daunting that her performance shattered.
South Korea’s Overnight Sensation Sharpshooter Kim Ye Ji Is Even Cooler In High School Photos
I was keeping a record of terrible scores that I wasn’t even scoring back in middle school.
— Kim Ye Ji
Realizing she was losing her spark, Kim quit the team and started competing as an independent athlete. To support herself through this, she worked several part-time gigs. So, while she kept shooting, she wasn’t necessarily thinking about competing in the Olympics.
It was after she gave birth to her first child at 27 years old that everything changed.
Wanting to become a mom her child could be proud of, Kim dedicated herself to training harder. Training harder, of course, led to scoring better. Soon, Kim was able to believe in herself again—to make the national team and eventually compete in the Olympics.
I felt a sense of responsibility… I did not want to be an embarrassing mother to my child. I wanted my child to look at me and see someone they can be proud of.
— Kim Ye Ji
She explained that she cried every single day on her way to training because she felt bad leaving her 6-month-old baby behind.
I was leaving my baby behind to train. So… It would not make sense for me to fool around at training. What would be the point of me being away from my child? If I were to make my child proud, I needed to be the best. So I would shoot 300-500 times when other people would shoot 150 a day.
— Kim Ye Ji
Not wanting her time away from her child to be in vain, Kim trained 364 days out of 365 in a year. According to fellow shooters on Team Korea, Kim would be training at all times except when she was eating and sleeping.
In fact, when she felt her stamina dropping, she decided to bike three hours to the shooting range—commuting a total of 55 miles (90 kilometers) each morning and night. Set on making her dream come true, she even got up and pushed herself to keep going even after she fell and scraped her entire face in an accident.
One time, I flew off my bike and fell flat on my face. I scraped my entire chin. I thought I lost half my face because it hurt so bad. I stood there, holding my chin, groaning in pain for a while… And then I realized I still had to get to work. So I slapped on a mask and pedaled to the shooting range while dripping in blood.
That made me realize that I had the will in me, and yet, I didn’t try my hardest. I was so ashamed of myself.
— Kim Ye Ji
All that hard work has definitely paid off. Breaking world records and winning Olympic medals, Kim Ye Ji is now an international sensation—one that not only her daughter but all of her fans would be incredibly proud to share with the world!
Watch the full clip here.
Source: Chosun
