Gold medalist shooter appointed tourism ambassador of Namwon

Gold medalist shooter Yang Ji-in, left, poses with Namwon Mayor Choi Kyung-sik at the city hall in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of Namwon City

Yang Ji-in, who won the gold medal in the women’s 25-meter pistol event at the Paris Olympics last month, will promote her southern hometown of Namwon as a tourism ambassador.

The Namwon city government held a welcoming ceremony for Yang on Tuesday at the city hall with some 200 attendees and appointed her as the city's tourism ambassador for the next three years.

Born and raised in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, Yang started shooting as a first-year at Namwon Haneul Middle School at the recommendation of her middle school coach, Jeong In-soon.

Yang stood out early as a shooter, winning the gold medal for air pistol at the Korea Shooting Federation's national competition in 2017 when she was only a second- grader in middle school.

Then, she left her hometown to go to Seoul Sports High School in 2019 and changed her main discipline to a 25-meter pistol in high school. Then she entered the Korean National Sports University in 2022 and was selected as an adult national team in 2023.

"I am once again grateful to Namwon's star Yang Ji-in for raising Namwon's status with a brilliant achievement at the Paris Olympics, giving our citizens impression and hope. We will do our best to cultivate global sports talents by promoting the National Youth Sports Complex as planned so that the second Yang Ji-in player can be nurtured in Namwon," Choi said.