Shooting Athlete Kim Yeji Temporarily Puts Down Gun... "Focusing on Role as a Mother"

Early Termination of Contract with Affiliated Imsil County Office

Kim Ye-ji, the silver medalist in shooting at the 2024 Paris Olympics, announced that she will be pausing her athletic career for the time being. It is reported that Kim intends to focus on her role as a mother, which she had previously neglected.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 6th, Kim Ye-ji's agency, Pulpil, stated in a press release, "Kim Ye-ji has terminated her contract with her team, Imsil County Office." Kim first signed with Imsil County Office on January 1, 2018, and had been renewing her contract every one to two years. Although she was scheduled to renew her contract this December, she submitted her resignation, leading to an early termination of the contract.

There were speculations that Kim might be transitioning to acting or other fields after submitting her resignation, but these were confirmed to be untrue. The agency explained, "After the National Sports Festival last month, there are no more competitions scheduled for this year, and considering that the next season starts in April, the contract was terminated early. She will take a short break and prepare for a greater leap forward."

Through her agency, Kim Ye-ji said, "As an Olympic medalist, I will pause my journey for a while to spend time with my child and focus on my role as a mother." She added, "I hope this break will be seen as a process to further develop as a shooting athlete. The timing of my return is undecided, but I will do my best to come back as soon as possible."

At the National Sports Festival held last month, Kim finished 7th in the women's 25m pistol final and 13th in the air pistol preliminaries, failing to advance to the finals and concluding the competition. She was also registered for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final held in New Delhi, India, from October 13 to 18, but around the time of the National Sports Festival, she informed her team and the Korea Shooting Federation of her decision to withdraw from the competition for certain reasons.

[Photo by X (formerly Twitter) capture]

Following the global attention she received after the Paris Olympics, Kim Ye-ji expanded her activities by shooting photo spreads for luxury brands and fashion magazines such as Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, and was cast as a killer in a film. During the Olympics, her sophisticated and nonchalant demeanor earned praise from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and recently, she was selected as Tesla Korea’s ambassador for the first time domestically.

While expanding her external activities, Kim Ye-ji has also expressed her commitment to not forgetting her duties as an athlete. In an interview with CNN in the United States last month, she said, "As an athlete, I never thought about acting," but added, "If it provides more people with the opportunity to experience shooting, I would gladly appear." However, she emphasized, "I am grateful to be called a fashion icon, but I am a shooting athlete," and "Photo shoots represent only a part of me."