Turkish Olympics shooter goes viral for winning 10 meter pistol event with limited gear
The 51-year-old is competing in his fifth Olympic Games, having started in Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.
Yusuf Dikec, a Turkish air pistol shooter, won the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Tuesday with little more than his famous aura. Despite having little equipment for the tournament, Dikec and his duet partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan placed second in the mixed team 10-meter air pistol event.
Following the release of a photo of Dikec on social media on Wednesday, which showed him without protective goggles or earplugs—a feature shared by Olympic shooters—the man went viral. In contrast, Dikec was able to outperform the majority of the competitors by using earphones and standard prescription glasses.
Career Highlights: Yusuf Dikec’s Journey to Olympic Success
At the Paris Games, Dikec became an instant sensation because to the photo showing him shooting with his hand in his pocket and minimal equipment. Over 21 million people have viewed a single photo of Yusuf on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The image that has gone viral follows South Korean air pistol athlete Kim Yeji, who also gained notoriety for seeming to be a movie star during her Olympic performance. The 51-year-old is competing in his fifth Olympic Games, having started in Beijing in 2008. His first-ever medal at the Games was the silver one he won on Tuesday.
Serbian pair of Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec took out the gold in the team event, with Dikec and Tarhan claiming silver and winning Türkiye’s first Olympic medal in shooting.
Held at the Chateauroux Shooting Center, the match was an exciting competition in which Dikec and Tarhan came just short of winning with a total score of 16-14. The Turkish pair’s performance was hailed as a historic accomplishment for their nation despite the narrow defeat.
Born in Goksun, Kahramanmaras, on January 1, 1973, Yusuf Dikec is a senior chief warrant officer in the Turkish Gendarmerie and a skilled marksman. His career includes medals in the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, as well as representing Turkey in the Summer Olympics in 2012 and 2016.
The spectacle was enhanced in Paris by Dikec’s easygoing demeanor on the shooting line, particularly in the absence of the customary high-tech equipment like the specialist optics and noise-canceling headphones of his Serbian rivals.
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