The teen from Southern California with an effervescent personality and a prodigious talent has gone pretty rapidly from a rising star in her sport to an instantly recognisable celebrity in the US and South Korea.
And now with a shiny Olympic gold medal around her neck, her fame will surely only soar higher into the stratosphere.
If there were any doubts that Kim would be able to produce on the biggest stage, or that the pressure might get to her, she dispelled them with a breathtaking first of three runs in the halfpipe final on Tuesday, which scored her 93.75.
