This article was originally published in English
Yusuf Dikec, a Turkish Olympic shooter who won the silver medal at Paris 2024, has gone viral for his performance at the Olympic Games this year.
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Social media has exploded with a photo of a Turkish Olympic shooter who showed up for his 2024 Paris Olympics event apparently indifferent and yet he took home the silver medal.
With hand in pocket and without any of the optical gadgetry that its rivals sportedYusuf Dikec’s easy-going style set him apart from his competitors yesterday in the mixed 10-metre air pistol team event.
The success of Dikec, who took second place with his partner Sevval İlayda Tarhan, coupled with his apparent total lack of concernhas made him an internet sensation overnight.
“Türkiye sent to a 51 year old guy without specialized lenseseye protection or hearing protection, and got the silver medal,” read one viral post on X, which had nearly 90 million views at the time of writing.
Most Olympic shooters use special ear protection and glasses to block vision in one eye and reduce glarebut Dikec apparently needed none of that and came within a whisker of gold against Serbians Zorana Arunović and Damir Mikec.
Success doesn’t come with your hands in your pockets
Dikec is no stranger to shooting: Paris 2024 is his fifth Olympic Games, having represented Turkey in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. He also holds several World and European Championship titles in various pistol events.
He is also a retired non-commissioned officer in the Turkish Gendarmerie. “I have not needed any special equipment,” Dikec told Turkish media.I am a natural, a born shooter“.
“Success doesn’t come with your hands in your pockets” is another of the statements he made to the national press. Even the official accounts of the Olympic Games on social networks have joined the celebration of style Dikec’s extraordinarily relaxed.
“The Olympic shooting stars we didn’t know we needed,” was posted on X, also referring to the South Korean Kim Yejiwhich has also captivated the hearts and minds of social media users.
Interestingly, Kim rose to stardom for exactly the opposite reason to Dikec: the silver medalist in the women’s 10-meter air pistol event was hailed by his “protagonist energy”thanks to his futuristic sport shooting gadgets and an impossibly cool composure.
This came after an old video came to light his own from the 2024 ISSF World Cup, in which he did eye contact with the camera after breaking a world record, which soon went viral.
Other social media users have been quick to join in on the fun, creating memes self-referential about how you can’t use X without Dikec and Kim appearing; parodies of films popular; and collages of the Turkish star spending time with his gato.
Others have superimposed pints of beer and cigarettes to the already iconic image of Dikec, suggesting that he looked like he had just gone to the Olympics after having a drink at the bar, while others allude to his status as Secret Agent.
