A South Korean Olympian Gets to Play an Assassin, but Some Before Her Have Flopped

An Olympic star emerges. In this case, Kim Ye-ji of South Korea, who became an overnight sensation with her effortlessly cool shooting form and ice-cold demeanor.

Somewhere a producer sees dollar signs. An actor is born. Kim will appear, as an assassin, naturally, in a South Korean series called “Crush.” It is not clear how big her part will be — a brief clip shows her adjusting the lead actor’s shooting form without speaking herself — but she seems to have taken the first step toward possible pop culture stardom.

What could possibly go wrong?

There was a time when Olympians regularly moved to films. Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe and Sonja Henie may not have won Oscars, but they carved out successful acting careers for themselves on the backs of their athletic performances.

Then came the 1980s, and the idea of Olympians as movie stars took off, but crashed to earth after three big flops starring athletes.

Perhaps as a result, later Olympians didn’t get leads but instead mostly popped up in cameos, as the diver Tom Daley did in “Sharknado 5” or the gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson did in “Stick It.”

These three ’80s films each might have launched a spectacular career, but instead landed with a hollow thud.