Guns, for understandable reasons, should be treated with extreme caution. So it’s a surprise that one of the best marksmen in the world treats the pinnacle of his sport like it’s a casual day at the park.
Rather than the hi-tech gear that many of his fellow Olympians have worn in Paris this year, Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç competed in a baggy T-shirt, with one hand in his pocket and glasses that looked like they were bought on discount at the local opticians.
Turkey sent a 51-year-old dude with no specialized lenses, eye cover, or ear protection, and secured the silver medal pic.twitter.com/fLxTUxMd2j
— Adrian Dittmann (@AdrianDittmann) July 31, 2024
But while he looks like someone who wandered in off the street, the 51-year-old has competed at every Games since 2008, is a two-time world champion and won silver this week alongside Sevval Ilayda Tarhan in the mixed team 10m air pistol. It was also Turkey’s first-ever Olympic shooting medal.
Dikeç’s dress code prompted memes contrasting him with his Serbian opponent,Damir Mikec, who was wearing a blinder over one eye, a lens over the other and a large pair of ear defenders.
In Olympic shooting, they use equipment like:
— Turkish Archives (@TurkishArc) July 31, 2024
> A lens to avoid blur
> A lens for better precision
> ear protectors for noise
Then a Turkish guy (Dikeç) came and won a silver medal with just a pair of GLASSES. pic.twitter.com/tobbeIifiS
Shooters have some freedom about how they dress for competition. It’s not quite true that Dikeç wasn’t wearing any shooting gear. He had yellow earplugs, which weren’t visible in some photos, to block out distractions while he shot in the final.
Just like Dikeç, Chinese rifle shooter Liu Yukun won a gold medal on Thursday wearing earplugs but no blinder or visor.
Dikeç seems to have embraced his newfound celebrity. With a keen eye for another staple of internet memes – a cute cat – he posted a picture of himself with his pet to Instagram.
He also displayed his low-key confidence when he was asked about his future. “I hope next in Los Angeles [for] a gold medal,” he said after winning his silver.
There appears to be a very specific demand for nonchalant silver-medal winning shooters at these Olympics. Earlier this week, South Korea’s pistol shooter Kim, 31, won silver at the women’s 10m air pistol event, just behind her roommate and compatriot, Oh Ye-jin, who took gold.
I’m assembling a team pic.twitter.com/dP0diSWp4V
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) July 30, 2024
Her medal was a personal success but a resurfaced clip of her breaking the world record at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup earlier this year soon thrust her into the spotlight. Kim broke the record wearing a backwards baseball cap, and barely flinched when she set the new mark, a reaction that earned her the title – on the internet, anyway – of “the coolest person ever”.
“This girl is a movie character like how is she real?” one person posted on X.
“Underrated aspect of Yeji Kim’s coolness is how blasé she seems about the whole thing. She looks like she knows she could do this in her sleep,” said another.
