Kim Woo-min (23), who won a bronze medal in the men’s 400m freestyle swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics, caught attention with his selfie ceremony on the podium.
On July 27 (local time), Kim Woo-min secured the bronze medal in the men’s 400m freestyle final at La Défense Arena in Paris, clocking in at 3:42.50. This marks South Korea’s first Olympic swimming medal in 12 years since Park Tae-hwan’s silver medals in the 400m and 200m freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics.
On the podium, Kim received a yellow smartphone from a volunteer and invited gold medalist Lukas Märtens of Germany (3:41.78) and silver medalist Elijah Winnington of Australia (3:42.21) to join him for a selfie, making a ‘V’ sign with his fingers. The smartphone used was Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition, the only smartphone officially permitted for selfies during the Olympic ceremonies. Previously, athletes were prohibited from bringing any personal items, including phones, onto the podium. They could only take photos during post-ceremony celebrations.
Samsung, the only South Korean company officially sponsoring the International Olympic Committee (IOC), collaborated with the IOC to launch the “Victory Selfie” program, allowing athletes to capture their moments of glory on the podium. These selfies are instantly synced with the “Athlete 365″ app, making it easy for athletes to download the photos onto their personal devices.
Earlier, Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun, who won silver in the 10m air rifle mixed team event, were the first South Korean athletes to take podium selfies with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition. The bronze medalist from Kazakhstan captured a selfie of all six athletes with the Flip 6.
Additionally, members of the Samsung family were spotted at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony held at Trocadéro Square. Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Lee Seo-hyun, president of Samsung C&T, and her husband Kim Jae-yeol, president of Samsung Economic Research Institute, were seen in the audience, dressed in raincoats. Kim captured the ceremony using a Samsung phone. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong also attended the Paris Olympics, marking his first visit to the event since the 2012 London Olympics.
Samsung made history by live streaming the first-ever outdoor Olympic opening ceremony using the Galaxy S24 Ultra, installing over 200 units on more than 80 boats. The company also began distributing approximately 17,000 Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Editions to all athletes participating in the Paris Olympics from July 18.