With his run-of-the-mill prescription glasses and nonchalant pose, Turkish Olympic shooter and Paris 2024 silver medalist Yusuf Dikeç has been propelled to viral stardom.
ADVERTISEMENTSocial media has exploded over a picture of a Turkish Olympic shooter who turned up to his Paris 2024 event seemingly indifferent yet took home the silver medal.
With his hand in his pocket and lacking any of the optical gadgets his rivals were donning, Yusuf Dikeç's casual style stood him apart from his competitors in the 10-metre air pistol mixed team event yesterday.
Dikeç's success in securing second place alongside his partner Şevval İlayda Tarhan, coupled with his apparent total nonchalance, has made him an internet sensation overnight.
"Turkey sent a 51-year-old guy with no specialized lenses, eye cover, or ear protection and got the silver medal," said one viral post on X, which had almost 90 million views at the time of writing.
Most Olympic shooters use specialised ear protection and lenses to block vision in one eye and reduce glare, but Dikeç apparently didn't need any of that and was just pipped to the gold by Serbian duo Zorana Arunović and Damir Mikec.
'Success doesn't come with your hands in your pockets'
Dikeç is no stranger to shooting: Paris 2024 is his fifth Olympics, having represented Turkey in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 beforehand. He also holds several titles from the World and European Championships for various pistol events.
He's also a retired non-commissioned officer of the Turkish Gendarmerie, so make of that what you will.
"I did not need special equipment," Dikeç reportedly told domestic Turkish media. "I'm a natural, a natural shooter."
"Success doesn't come with your hands in your pockets" is another statement he made to the domestic press.
Even official Olympic social media accounts have joined in celebrating Dikeç's remarkably relaxed style.
"The Olympic #shootingsport stars we didn't know we needed," it posted on X, referring also to South Korea's Kim Yeji, who has captivated the hearts and minds of social media users as well.
Funnily enough, Kim shot to stardom for exactly the opposite reason as Dikeç: the silver medallist in the women's 10-metre air pistol event was hailed for her "main character energy" thanks to her full futuristic shooting sports gadgetry and impossibly cool composure.
This was after an older video emerged of her from the 2024 ISSF World Cup, where she made eye contact with the camera after breaking a world record, which soon went viral.
More social media users have been quick to join in the fun, creating self-referential memes about how you can't use X without seeing Dikeç and Kim pop up; spoofs of popular films; and collages of the Turkish star spending time with his cat.
Others have superimposed pints of beer and cigarettes into the now-iconic picture of Dikeç, suggesting that he looked like he'd just popped to the Olympics after a drink in the pub, while more still allude to him being a secret agent.