The 51-year-old Yusuf Dikec will bring a medal back to Türkiye having secured second place in the 10-meter air rifle mixed event, alongside Seval Ilayda Tarhan. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, they missed the gold by a narrow margin, with a score of 16-1
All seems fine so far, and it wouldn’t be significant news except for the fact that the 51-year-old had almost no equipment.
What do we mean by equipment? In shooting, athletes typically have several extras to aid their performance, such as jackets that enhance body stability (while also reducing recoil), gloves, heavy noise-canceling headphones, and special glasses for better aiming by reducing distracting objects around them and blurring.
In contrast to others, Dikec simply wore a pair of regular earplugs, and his normal glasses, put his hand in his pocket to “maximize” his casual approach, and went for the medal. These were his third Olympic Games, having participated in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), but he had never won a medal at the world’s top competition. However, he is not a newcomer, with several distinctions at European and world levels. His most recent medal before this one in France was also silver, again in mixed events, at the World Championships in Baku (Azerbaijan) a year earlier.
Naturally, comparisons were made to South Korean Kim Ye-Ji, who had made a tremendous impression worldwide with her style and presence.
Of course, there is also a… secret about Dikec. The 51-year-old has experience with firearms as he is an experienced shooter and an officer in the Turkish Gendarmerie.
Watch the video:
im Ye-Ji won silver in shooting and is preparing for… Hollywood – Watch the video
Kim Ye-Ji won silver in shooting and is preparing for… Hollywood – Her incredible style has taken the internet by storm – Watch the video