The Serb, aged 37, has won 24 Grand Slam titles, equalling Margaret Court's record tally -- two more than Nadal and four clear of Federer with both rivals now retired.

He also has a stack of other records in men's tennis including a record 40 Masters-level titles, seven season-ending ATP Finals crowns and most weeks at number one -- a staggering 428.

He led Serbia to Davis Cup glory in 2010.

And on the red clay of Paris in August 2024 he completed a career Golden Grand Slam by beating Carlos Alcaraz in the Olympic final, shaking with emotion as he fell to his knees, describing victory as his "greatest achievement".

It was his 99th title, putting him four behind Federer's total of 103 and 10 behind Jimmy Connors' record of 109.

Djokovic did not launch his career in a vacuum -- he started out at a time when Federer and Nadal ruled the sport, with fans firmly in one camp or the other.

When the Serb won his first Grand Slam, at the Australian Open in 2008, Federer was already on 12 majors and Nadal had taken virtual ownership of the French Open.

Djokovic did not win another major until 2011 and was voracious in his appetite until this year when he failed to add to his Grand Slam tally, overshadowed by the  success of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz who shared the four majors between them.

In an effort to stem the relative decline, on Saturday he hired old rival Andy Murray to help coach him at next year's Australian Open where he is a 10-time champion.

He has made no secret of his aim to be the greatest of all and few would now argue that he has not achieved it, with winning records against both of his rivals in the "Big Three" of men's tennis.

Despite his astonishing achievements, while the retired Nadal and Federer are adored across the world, Djokovic, even now, sharply divides opinion.

He famously had to battle Federer and a pro-Swiss crowd in the 2019 Wimbledon final, which he won after saving match points.

Djokovic is not afraid to go toe to toe with hostile fans, using their jibes to fuel his relentless quest for glory and showing the depth of his competitiveness.

But off the court he cuts an impressive figure -- urbane and thoughtful, and able to speak fluently in a number of languages.

An exasperated John McEnroe expressed his frustration at the way that Djokovic is sometimes treated during the 2024 Wimbledon tournament, where he lost in the final to Alcaraz.

"He's like the Darth Vader compared to two of the classiest acts we've seen play tennis -- Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer," he said.

- 'Greatest' -

The American three-time Wimbledon champion added: "He's by far the guy who's taken the worst heat and that's why I would say he's the greatest that's ever played."

Djokovic has been content to plough his own furrow and has shown an astonishing ability to shut out the noise and battle against the odds.

He grew up in war-torn Serbia and has spoken about how his turbulent childhood made him hungrier for success.

Djokovic made his ATP Tour debut in 2004, winning his first title two years later in the Netherlands.

He started to win tournaments regularly but struggled to make an impact at the Grand Slams after his 2008 triumph in Australia.

Djokovic dropped gluten early in his career, crediting the change with transforming his results.

The lithe physique of the rubber man of tennis enabled him to chase down seemingly lost causes and he combined a brutally efficient game with a rock-solid defence.

Half of his 24 Grand Slams have come after he turned 30 -- testament to how he has looked after himself.

In 2016 he became the third man in history to hold all four majors at the same time.

But agonisingly he fell at the last hurdle in 2021 as he attempted to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar Grand Slam.

Despite his extraordinary success, some personal stances have drawn criticism, such as a claim that it was possible to alter the composition of water and food through positive thinking.

His refusal to be vaccinated against Covid proved costly -- he was deported from Melbourne on the eve of the 2022 Australian Open.

And Djokovic's tennis has sometimes been overshadowed by controversies.

His infamous default from the US Open in 2020 for petulantly swiping at a ball that hit a female line judge gave a glimpse of his fiery character.

At the 2023 French Open, he wrote "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" on a courtside TV camera lens as ethnic tensions were again rising in the Balkans.

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AFP looks at the other five who achieved the feat:

- Juan Manuel Fangio -

Titles won: 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957

Cars: Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes, Ferrari

Born in 1911, Fangio was a successful driver at home in Argentina, notably winning the gruelling 10,000 kilometre (6,250 miles) Gran Premio del Norte in 1940, before becoming the first superstar of Formula One.

He won the 1951 title with Alfa Romeo and went on to triumph with Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari to become the first man to win five titles, a record that stood for 46 years. He died aged 84 in 1995.

In his own words:

"I learned to approach racing like a game of billiards. If you bash the ball too hard, you get nowhere. As you handle the cue properly, you drive with more finesse."

- Alain Prost -

Titles won: 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993

Cars: McLaren, Williams

The Frenchman, who was known as 'The Professor' for his analytical approach to the sport, is remembered by many as the dull counterpoint to the crowd-pleasing Ayrton Senna (three titles) in a rivalry that gripped F1 in the late 1980s, early 1990s.

But he was a gifted, methodical driver who won his first three titles with McLaren and a fourth with Williams. He might have had five had he not been pipped by half a point by Niki Lauda in 1984.

In his own words:

"My ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible."

- Michael Schumacher -

Titles won: 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

Cars: Benetton, Ferrari

The year after Prost's final championship, up stepped the heir apparent in Michael Schumacher. The German, with his undoubted verve and pace mingled with an aggression that occasionally bordered on the dangerous, won twice with Benetton in the 1990s before switching to Ferrari.

From 2000 he dominated the track, winning five titles on the trot, eclipsing Fangio's record on the way. His 91 race wins was a new record until Lewis Hamilton passed him.

Schumacher suffered a serious brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident and has been in care at the family home in Switzerland since.

In his own words:

"Just being a mediocre driver has never been my ambition. That’s not my style."

- Sebastian Vettel -

Titles won: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Car: Red Bull

Six years after Schumacher's last title, along came another German to take a firm grip of the sport. Vettel made his F1 debut in Indianapolis shortly before his 20th birthday in 2007 with Red Bull which had taken over and rebranded the Jaguar team four years earlier.

Three years later he became the youngest-ever champion, going on to win four in a row and frustrating the great Spaniard Fernando Alonso who was runner-up three times to Vettel. His 2013 title was the last won by Red Bull until Verstappen's first in 2021.

In his own words:

"It's correct that I'm a bad loser. Why should I lie? If I was good at losing I wouldn't be in Formula 1."

- Lewis Hamilton -

Titles won: 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

Cars: McLaren, Mercedes

In a sport that had been exclusively white, Lewis Hamilton broke new ground for being the first Black driver and the first Black champion. He used his position to speak out on many social issues but kept his most telling actions to the track where he and his Mercedes team were in a class of their own.

After winning his first title with McLaren in 2008, he switched to Mercedes winning six further titles over a seven-year period. Arguably he should have made it eight when a controversial decision by the race director in Abu Dhabi ushered Verstappen through for the win instead -- and the title.

In his own words:

"If you don’t have the balls to brake late, that’s your problem."

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The "burning mountain" -- Yanardag in Azerbaijani -- is fed by underground gas rising to the surface and igniting upon contact with oxygen.

The abundance of naturally occurring fires from the energy-rich nation's huge gas deposits has earned it the nickname "The Land of Fire".

Azerbaijan's vast oil and gas resources "have shaped the history, culture, politics and the economy" of the Caspian nation, said energy expert Kamalya Mustafayeva.

Its oil deposits -- seven billion barrels of proven reserves -- were discovered in the mid-19th century, making what was then part of the Russian Empire one of the first places in the world to start commercial oil production.

"The world's first industrial onshore oil well was drilled in Azerbaijan, and also the first offshore one," Ashraf Shikhaliyev, the director of the energy ministry's international cooperation department, told AFP.

- 'Born of an oil boom' -

Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan has produced 1.05 billion tonnes of oil and is set to increase its natural gas production by more than a third in the next decade.

Revenues from oil and gas production make up about 35 percent of the country's GDP and nearly half of the state budget.

"Azerbaijan's oil revenues -- up to $200 billion to date since 1991 -- gave the country an opportunity to make a huge leap forward," said Sabit Bagirov, who headed the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar) in the 1990s.

Energy expert Ilham Shaban said "Baku, once a small fishermen's hamlet of some 4,000 people, was born of an oil boom," which led to massive population growth -- at a faster rate from the 1890s than London, Paris or New York.

Modern Baku is a bustling metropolis dotted with skyscrapers, seaside promenades and futuristic buildings designed by world-renowned architects.

The Azerbaijani capital has become a venue for major international events, such as the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, matches in the Euro 2020 football championship and the Formula 1 motor racing Grand Prix.

The manna of petrodollars helped Azerbaijan to arm itself against arch-foe Armenia, and last year Baku recaptured its breakaway Karabakh region from Armenian separatists who had controlled it for decades.

- 'Europe's energy security' -

About 75 percent of Azerbaijan's energy exports go to European markets.

In 2022, the European Commission -- keen to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas -- signed a deal with Baku to double gas imports from the country.

While Azerbaijan's share of gas supplies to Europe might only reach five percent by 2033, the country can meet all the gas needs of Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Albania and the south of Italy, said Bagirov.

"Azerbaijan has become an important factor in ensuring Europe's energy security," said expert Mustafayeva.

But its fossil fuel reserves, which President Ilham Aliyev has called "a gift of God", are expected to be exhausted within several decades.

"Azerbaijan's oil wells will run dry within 20 years; the natural gas reserves will last for 50 years," Bagirov said.

"Economic dependence on hydrocarbons is a concern for the Azerbaijani government, which is making serious efforts to develop other economic sectors," including technology, agriculture and tourism, he said.

Expert Shaban said "Azerbaijan's goal is to get the maximum money from its hydrocarbon resources before Europe reaches its decarbonisation objective," which will lead to a significant drop in the continent's demand for fossil fuels.

- Insufficient green agenda -

This prospect has prompted criticism from environmentalists ahead of COP29.

"COP hosts have a responsibility to deliver progress and the answer is not found at the bottom of an oil well or a gas pipeline," said Jasper Inventor, Greenpeace International's head of delegation for COP29.

With all the exported gas and oil, the emissions are tallied in the CO2 production of the countries that buy and burn it, and not in those of Azerbaijan.

Yet Azerbaijani officials said the country is making significant strides in setting its own green agenda on its land.

The country aims to increase its renewable energy capacity to 30 percent by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2050.

Shikhaliyev listed "clean energy mega projects" such as transforming the recaptured Karabakh region into a "green energy zone" fully reliant on solar, wind and hydro power.

But experts are adamant that Azerbaijan does not have a climate plan in line with the Paris Agreement.

In September, the Climate Action Tracker group estimated that by 2030, Baku's greenhouse gas emissions will have increased between 23 to 40 percent compared to 2020.

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"I don't like to talk about medical tourism. It's a bit scary," said Dritan Gremi, who heads a dental clinic in the capital Tirana.

"I prefer to talk about happiness tourism, which makes people happy."

Gremi said his clinic offers "high-quality care with equipment that is guaranteed and certified" to European standards at a fraction of the price.

He has Italian, French, Belgian and Swiss clients often lured with package deals that include travel and accommodation costs.

With scandals about shoddy work and disfigured clients taking some of the shine off medical tourism elsewhere, Albanian health authorities say they insist on high-quality care.

Prosecutors carried out checks on 30 cosmetic clinics this month looking for contraband products and Botox, which is banned in Albania.

- Smile sale -

Stephane Pealat's journey to Albania started with hopes for a new, affordable smile.

He and his brother, who are from Valence in the south of France, have long suffered from dental problems, including tooth loss that pushed him to seek a complex dental implant procedure.

"In France we had an initial estimate which was very, very expensive. Then we started looking on the internet -- Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Spain," Pealat told AFP.

He learned about the Gremi clinic during a consultation session in Lyon with Albanian dentists.

After an initial visit in August to tour the facilities in Tirana, Pealat and his brother returned in the autumn.

According to Pealat, the dental implant operation he opted for cost roughly 50,000 euros ($54,000) in France, compared to just 13,500 euros in Albania.

It was no small amount for Pealat.

"It is important to have a beautiful smile," he said.

Nathalie Gangloff, who works as an event organiser at a nursing home in Cognac in western France, also opted for an Albania clinic to treat her dental issues.

"My doctor in France told me about a TV documentary" about medical tourism in Albania, Gangloff told AFP.

She paid under 15,000 euros to have her teeth done compared to the 42,000 euros that she would have had to spend in France.

After extractions and implants in February, she returned to Tirana in mid-September for her final work, happy to have regained her smile.

"With my job, it's important to have beautiful teeth and a good hairdo," she told AFP, saying she immediately changed her Facebook profile picture to show off her new pearly whites.

- 'Love and happiness' -

Low overheads and tax have helped Albanian clinics lure customers with lower prices.

The country's medical tourism sector is estimated to earn between 200 and 250 million euros a year, with at least 50,000 Italians visiting Tirana for treatment every year.

However, the procedures are not risk-free.

The head of Albania's national doctors association Fatmir Ibrahimaj said both foreign and local patients should not rely on online advertising alone for cosmetic procedures and should do their due diligence before undergoing treatment.

"A doctor is not a five-star or no-star hotel," Ibrahimaj told reporters.

For Anna Maria, an Italian from Milan, the "smile of the soul passes also through the lips".

The psychologist in her 30s -- who did not want to give her surname -- visited Albania for dental veneers and a lip procedure with the hopes of improving her smile.

"More and more foreign tourists are also getting cosmetic treatments to brighten up their smile," said Monika Fida, a dermatologist and university lecturer in Tirana.

Injections of hyaluronic acid into the lips are particularly popular.

"Above all, they want to feel good, and have well-shaped lips as naturally as possible," added Fida, who said between 750 and 1,000 foreign patients visit her clinic every year.

Vera Panaitov, a 60-year-old Italian chef from Verona, initially came to have her teeth done.

But once in Tirana, she had opted for procedures on her breasts and waist.

"You have to be beautiful at any age and experience love and happiness at every moment," she told AFP, smiling from her hospital bed, saying she felt "happy and rejuvenated".

Christine Cincunegui, a French businesswoman, may soon follow her.

In Paris, she seemed set on going ahead with a dental procedure in Albania after consulting practitioners visiting the French capital.

"Feeling more beautiful and having fun? What more do we want?" she told AFP.

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Clad in a red tunic and donning a 24-carat gold necklace, Tsonev said he sought a more "traditional life" dedicated to the Balkan country's rich past amid all the "turmoil in the world", far away from any "political and economic upheavals".

"It's calm here and the focus is on history," the 47-year-old former waiter said -- though one of its star attractions has become embroiled in accusations of possible fraud targeting an anti-establishment politician.

Tsonev is one of dozens of Bulgarians who have put down roots in the village of Neofit Rilski about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Black Sea coast in search of a tranquil, traditional lifestyle.

That search is helped in part by the village's popular historical theme park built by businessman-turned-politician Ivelin Mihaylov.

Having founded the Velichie or Greatness party last year, which has since entered parliament in June, the 47-year-old said his aim was to "make Bulgaria respect itself again".

Instead of bowing down to what Brussels "dictates", adopting the euro and taking sides on the war in Ukraine, Mihaylov told AFP that Bulgaria should connect to its "glorious past".

But Mihaylov and his park have recently been caught up in allegations of fraud, which he denies as "slander" by his political rivals ahead of Sunday's national elections.

- Community spirit -

Several residents of the 1,300-soul village told AFP they appreciate its community spirit and respect for traditional values.

Alexandra Beshevlieva left the capital Sofia years ago to settle in Neofit Rilski, where everything from the impeccable streets to the freshly mowed lawns appears perfect.

"You need to know your roots to know where you're going -- I'm bringing up my children as Bulgarians," said the 37-year-old IT specialist, who lives with her family in a house with 19th-century architectural elements.

Beshevlieva said she enjoyed the "healthy" food she can buy from local producers, while praising the folk dancing activities her children take part in.

Tsonev said he has found happiness in growing roses and medicinal plants in his garden, which he has opened to the public.

His children have Thracian names, harking back to the civilisation that once inhabited the Balkan peninsula from the second millennium BC to the third century AD.

The Thracians became famous for their production of exquisite gold objects, inspiring Tsonev's handmade jewelry.

Politician Mihaylov similarly gave his daughter a name of Thracian descent.

- Opaque financing -

Mihaylov's popular historical theme park is just a stone's throw away from the village centre.

It features replicas of prehistoric mud and reed houses, copies of archaeological objects from 8,000 years ago, as well as "historic" models of tombs and medieval towers.

Elisaveta Slavova, a 36-year-old guide who used to live abroad in Britain, said she learnt about the village on the internet and decided to return to Bulgaria.

"I've found my vocation -- to help people discover the richness of our historical heritage. We're treading on gold here," she said.

Theme park visitors told AFP they are "proud" to be Bulgarian, brushing aside criticism over the facility's financing, which is entirely private.

According to an economist interviewed by lawmakers, the park "only generates losses". Mihaylov said the banks have since stopped granting loans.

Regional prosecutors have not yet acted on accusations of "misleading investors" for lack of evidence, but a new investigation has meanwhile been opened.

Several other investigations into suspected illegal acquisition of property and fraud for the purpose of electoral manipulation are ongoing.

Pounding the campaign trail in the run-up to the elections, Mihaylov denounced his rivals as "a mafia that leaves no room for entrepreneurial freedom".

The politician hopes his Velichie party can repeat its June success in the upcoming vote on Sunday, the seventh in less than four years.

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The concept brings back the joy of browsing real books to communities where many bookstores have shut, and gives readers more eclectic choices than those suggested by algorithms on online sellers, its proponents say.

"Here, you find books which make you wonder who on earth would buy them," laughs Shogo Imamura, 40, who opened one such store in Tokyo's bookstore district of Kanda Jimbocho in April.

"Regular bookstores sell books that are popular based on sales statistics while excluding books that don't sell well," Imamura, who also writes novels about warring samurai in Japan's feudal era, told AFP.

"We ignore such principles. Or capitalism in other words," he said. "I want to reconstruct bookstores."

His shop, measuring just 53 square metres (570 square feet), houses 364 shelves, selling books -- some new, some used -- on everything from business strategy and manga comics to martial arts.

The hundreds of different shelf renters, who pay 4,850-9,350 yen ($32-$61) per month, vary from individuals to an IT company to a construction firm to small publishers.

"Each one of these shelves is like a real version of a social media account, where you express yourself like in Instagram or Facebook," said Kashiwa Sato, 59, the store's creative director.

- Cafes and gyms -

For now his store Honmaru -- meaning the core of a Japanese castle -- is only in Tokyo, but Imamura hopes to expand to other regions hit hard by bookstore closures.

A quarter of Japan's municipalities have no physical bookstores, with more than 600 shutting in the 18 months to March, according to the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture.

Imamura in 2022 visited dozens of bookstores that have managed to survive the tough competition with e-commerce giants like Amazon, some by adding cafes or even gyms.

"But that is like putting the cart before the horse. Because if a gym is more profitable, 90 percent of the shop may become a gym, with 10 percent for bookselling," Imamura said.

- Crowd-pullers -

Rokurou Yui, 42, said his three shelf-sharing bookstores in the same Tokyo area are filled with "enormous love" for shelf owners' favourite books,

"It is as if you're hearing voices of recommendations," Yui told AFP.

Owners of regular bookstores put books on their shelves that they have to sell to stay in business, regardless of their personal tastes, he said.

"But here, there is no single book that we have to sell, but just books that someone recommends with strong passion and love for," he said.

Yui and his father Shigeru Kashima, 74, a professor of French literature, opened their first shelf-sharing bookstore, called Passage, in 2022.

They expanded with two others and the fourth opened inside a French language school in Tokyo in October.

Passage has 362 shelves and the sellers help attract customers with their own marketing efforts, often online.

That is in contrast to conventional bookstores that often rely on owners' sole sales efforts, he said.

On weekends, Yui's store sometimes "looks as if it were a crowded nightclub with young customers in their 10s, 20s, 30s" with edgy background music playing, he said.

Customers and shelf-owners visit the bookstore not only to sell and buy books, but to enjoy "chatting about books", he said.

Japan' industry ministry in March launched a project team to study how to support bookstores.

"Bookstores are a hub of culture transmission, and are extremely important assets for the society in maintaining diverse ideas and influencing national power," it said.

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Lamma, which means "gathering" or "hangout" in Arabic, has become a cultural hub for locals and other visitors, featuring an art gallery that showcases Libyan artists, and hosts events and workshops.

But its central mission, its owner said, is raising awareness of an eco-friendly lifestyle in Libya, where green initiatives are scarce as people grapple with the aftermath of a gruelling conflict.

"We use materials that were abandoned in the streets, such as rubber from tyres, wood from trees and construction waste" to build the cafe, said Louay Omran Burwais, an architect who designed and founded Lamma.

"The idea is to show people that what is thrown in the street and may seem ugly or useless is actually still valuable," he told AFP.

Libya was hurled into war after a NATO-backed uprising led to the overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi, followed by years of fighting between militias, mercenaries and jihadists.

Power remains split between a UN-recognised government and a rival authority in the east.

- 'New mindset' -

Behind the long, narrow door into Lamma, visitors are greeted with a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes.

The plant-covered walls contrast with a web of suspended metal scraps, alcoves and slide tunnels that children swoop down through.

"There are no places like this in Libya," said Roula Ajjawi, Lamma's art director. "We base everything on one aspect that we consider very important: recycling."

Families gather at Lamma on Thursdays, the start of the Libyan weekend, when the cafe holds art workshops for children.

Others borrow books from the venue's small library.

Burwais says his team hopes recycling and other eco-friendly practices, which remain rare, start up in Libya, which currently has no recycling facilities.

Visitors to Lamma will recognise familiar everyday objects repurposed throughout the space, Burwais said, but they will "start seeing them differently. We are here to foster a new mindset".

In Libya, the plastic, metal, and glass left from over a decade of civil war destruction are rarely, if ever, reused or recycled, Ajjawi said.

More often, they are abandoned in nature and on the streets, occasionally washed into the Mediterranean by rain and wind.

But with initiatives like Lamma, objects once destined for the landfill are transformed into works of art -- a concept now catching on with locals.

"I love this place," said Riyad Youssef, now a Lamma regular. "The food is great, the service is excellent, and I appreciate the commitment to reducing waste. Every idea here is amazing."

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Kim, 32, won silver in the women's 10m air pistol at this summer's Paris Olympics and captured the internet's attention with her nonchalant cool. But she told AFP that she fell into her sport by accident.

When her middle school teacher asked for volunteers to try shooting, Kim did not raise her hand but was selected anyway. Despite being too small to hoist the pistol, she was hooked.

"I thought it looked cool," Kim, dressed in an oversized black suit and heels after a commercial photoshoot, told AFP at a shooting range in Seoul. Her visit to the venue prompted gasps of excitement from other young Koreans at the firing line.

Her parents strongly opposed her taking up shooting, but "for three days, I didn't eat and just cried, begging to be allowed," Kim said. Eventually, they relented.

"I didn't have a clear goal when it came to my studies. But with shooting... I knew I had to be the best," she said.

She has dedicated her life to shooting ever since. In Paris, she said she had a "single goal -- winning a medal."

She was not using social media at the time, viewing it as "toxic" and a distraction from training, so she was initially unaware when videos of her shooting started going viral.

At a photo session with other medalists in Paris, where journalists told her she had "a lot of Brazilian fans" and asked her to greet them in Portuguese, she started to realise something had happened.

"I didn't think of myself as special, and I still don't," she told AFP.

"There are many other medalists with lots of fans, and I just see myself as one of them."

– Internet sensation –

The video that launched Kim to stardom shows her in an all-black uniform, a backwards baseball cap and wire-rimmed shooting glasses while taking aim and firing. After breaking the world record she barely reacts, glancing at her score calmly as the crowd applauds.

The clip, which was actually taken from a competition in May 2024, triggered an internet frenzy, with people hailing her "main character" energy, and Elon Musk calling for her to be cast in an action movie, "no acting required".

Videos of her Olympic performance quickly went viral, but the preternatural calm which captivated the internet's attention is simply how she shoots, she said.

"I wasn't initially good at concentrating," she said, but she was advised to keep her gaze ultra-focused at the firing line.

She found this "helped me concentrate, and to calm my nerves".

She said she is a "naturally restless person", but when she shoots "my arm is not just my arm anymore; it's all part of the gun".

"When holding the gun, everything must be perfectly fixed in place. Nothing should move -- wrist, hand, or any other part. I think of it all as part of the gun."

- Fame, humbly -

When Kim returned to South Korea after the Olympics, she was inundated with interview requests, invited to model for brands like Louis Vuitton, and even appear in a short movie -- as an assassin -- with Indian actress Anushka Sen.

She says she is "grateful and happy" for the attention, particularly as it has boosted interest in the sport she loves, and that her family has helped her stay humble.

"My father told me: 'I think people are overreacting a bit when you just won silver'", she says laughing, adding that her six-year-old daughter also likes to cheekily point out her mum "didn't win gold".

Kim says she sees no conflict between her life as an elite shooter and a fledgling celebrity. She still trains five days a week, fitting in photo shoots and interviews in her spare time.

She is now focused on winning gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and believes she is only just hitting her sporting prime.

"In terms of shooting, it's less about age and more about individual skill," she said, plus preparation and effort.

"This year and last have been my best seasons, and if I continue to work hard, I think I'll keep performing well," she said, adding that she hopes to compete until she is 50 years old.

Since the viral videos, "people refer to me as 'shooter Kim Ye-ji' rather than just 'Kim Ye-ji'", she said.

"I want to continue my work so that the word 'shooter' will always be remembered."

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Sitting cheek by jowl with the city's Canal Belt, the once working class Jordaan neighbourhood is the setting for a new musical which its producers said captured the essence of the Dutch capital and its residents.

"We specifically designed a musical to celebrate Amsterdam's 750th anniversary," said Marc Muller, producer at the DeLaMar Theatre where the musical "Onze Jordaan" (Our Jordaan) hit the planks to a full house on Wednesday evening.

"From October 27 the city will enter its year-long celebration and we thought a musical is an ideal way to contribute to the festivities," Muller told AFP, a few hours before the show opened to the public.

Any mention of the Jordaan in the Netherlands will immediately be greeted by a knowing smile.

For many Dutch citizens, Amsterdam is best exemplified not by its gritty and notorious red light district, but by the Jordaan.

"This is the best neighbourhood in the Netherlands," Evert Jansen told AFP during a visit.

"The best actors, the best singers, the best footballers are all from here -- (Ruud) Gullit and (Johan) Cruyff. The best comes from here," said Jordaan born-and-bred Jansen, 82, sporting a typical Amsterdam flat cap.

- 'Most famous neighbourhood' -

Built in parallel to the Canal Belt during the so-called Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, many of its streets and canals today still carry the names of plants and flowers.

Historians say one of the possible origins of the neighbourhood's name, the Jordaan, comes from the French word "jardin", meaning garden.

Back in the 17th century many of its residents were migrants from all over Europe, working in the city's factory and harbour "all attracted by the wealth of Amsterdam," said Annemarie de Wildt, historian and former curator of the Amsterdam Museum.

The Jordaan's population grew exponentially for the next two centuries and living conditions plummeted.

But even back then, the neighbourhood became famous for its music and singing -- especially when Italian labourers brought their love of opera to the Jordaan's tiny streets.

Bel canto, a smooth operatic style of singing, was soon incorporated into the Jordaan's music tradition.

This continued into the 20th century, said De Wildt.

"Somehow... the Jordaan had a sort-of notorious culture of its own, characterised by a lot of music, theatre," she told AFP.

"People started writing novels about the Jordaan, making films about the Jordaan, a whole genre of songs started."

"In that sense I think it's one of the most famous neighbourhoods of the whole of the Netherlands," she said.

For the producers of the musical "Onze Jordaan" it was the ideal mix.

"You need several ingredients to make a musical: a good story to start with, and the Jordaan on many levels has a good story to tell," said Muller.

"You need a culture that's easy to explain to the whole of the Netherlands and very importantly, fitting music, music that people know."

"And because of this combination, we've chosen the Jordaan," he said.

- 'All sorts of people' -

Dressed in black leather a pair of aviator sunglasses, long-haired long-time Jordaan local Michiel Hooidonk sipped an ice-cold Heineken beer as he surveyed passers-by at his local bar, the Cafe 't Monumentje).

"I've lived here for the past 20 years. I don't ever really leave the neighbourhood," the 63-year-old self-confessed "ageing rocker" told AFP.

"You can feel it. The warmth, the coziness but sometimes also the conflicts. That's why I think all sorts of people move here," added crystal shop owner Laura Adriaanse.

But many residents like Hooidonk and Jansen said the neighbourhood was changing as gentrification creeps in.

The Jordaan saw an exodus of residents in the 1960s fleeing substandard housing, leading to an influx of students and artists cashing in on cheap accommodation.

House prices have since rocketed and today the Jordaan is one of the most upmarket and expensive locations in the Netherlands.

"Earlier we had 60,000 people, real 'Jordaanese'," lamented Jansen.

"Now you only see Porsches and Land Rovers on the streets," he said.

But younger generations said they welcomed the changes.

"The population has changed, which I really like, so everything is kind of the same, but at the same time the people are changing," said Melody Musscher, 20, whose family was from the Jordaan.

"And that's really cool to see," she said.

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© Agence France-Presse