Remember the adorable “goat boy” from hit 2016 K-drama Descendants Of The Sun?

Well, he’s all grown up now — and has become one of South Korea’s rising sprint stars.

Joel Jin Nwamadi, who was just 10 when he appeared in the drama starring Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo, recently made his mark at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, winning bronze in the men’s 4x100m relay.

Joel, now 20, ran the second leg of the relay, with the team clocking 38.43 seconds.

Their time also broke South Korea’s national record of 38.49 seconds, which Joel had helped set at the Asian Athletics Championships last year.

The medal almost didn’t happen. The team was disqualified in the heats the day before after officials ruled that a baton exchange had taken place outside the exchange zone. However, the decision was overturned following an appeal by the Korea Association of Athletics Federations, allowing them to compete in the final.

And that wasn’t Joel's only impressive showing at the Games.

Joel also finished fourth in the men’s 100m final with a time of 10.17 seconds, missing out on bronze by just 0.06 seconds.

Long before Joel was sprinting for his country, K-drama fans knew him as the young boy living in the fictional war-torn country of Uruk in Descendants Of The Sun.

His character shared several scenes with Onew’s Lee Chi-hoon, as well as Joong Ki.

In one memorable scene, Chi-hoon gives him a pair of shoes, only for the boy to say he would rather have a goat to raise, earning him the nickname “goat boy”.

Joel’s child-actor past has resurfaced following his Asian Games performance, with many surprised by just how much he has changed in the decade since the drama aired.

Born in Seoul to a Korean mum and Nigerian dad, Joel started competing in track and field when he was in Primary 5.

In 2024, he set a South Korean high-school record of 10.30 seconds in the 100m.

He went on to help South Korea win its first men’s 4x100m gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2025.

Joel’s current personal best in the 100m is 10.13 seconds, just 0.06 seconds shy of Kim Kuk-young’s South Korean record of 10.07 seconds.

Descendants Of The Sun

Photos: Yonhap News, Descendants Of The Sun