Turkish Olympic shooting medallist Yusuf Dikec says he is unfazed by his newfound fame after his casual, hatless, hand-in-pocket style turned him into an internet sensation overnight.
Dikec and teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan won silver in the mixed 10-meter (10.9-yard) air pistol team event on Tuesday, losing to Serbia in the gold medal match.
But what was most striking was not the result, but Dikec's posture: the shooter was wearing sunglasses, a team shirt and his left hand was in his pocket.
Other than his gun, he had none of the specialized equipment that athletes use in this hyper-precision test, such as headphones, special glasses or a hat.
“Be cool like Yusuf Dikec. Congratulations on winning the silver medal in such a cool way,” the French embassy in Turkey wrote in a post on X in Turkish.
“My name is Dikec. Yusuf Dikec,” other users wrote in their posts, referring to the film icon James Bond. Some memes added a cigarette in his mouth to emphasise his relaxed posture.
Speaking to Turkish channel TGRT Haber, Dikec admitted that he had adopted the rare technique of shooting with both eyes open, while most athletes keep one eye closed or hidden.
“My shooting technique is one of the few in the world. I shoot with both eyes open. Even the referees are surprised by it,” he said on Thursday.
He said winning a medal was not a surprise because “this year we prepared a lot and worked hard… This success belongs to all of Turkey.”
“Success doesn't come from keeping your hands in your pockets.”
Some social media users suggested the same attention should also be paid to his shooting partner in the mixed event, Tarhan, whose footage showed him adopting a similarly casual stance with his hand in his pocket, although he was wearing headphones and a visor.
Turkish Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak congratulated Dikec on social media, posting a photo of him recreating his now “legendary pose.”
Clutching a Turkish flag and their medals, Dikec and Tarhan celebrated their victory on Wednesday at Champions Park in the Trocadero complex in Paris.
The Olympic #shootingsport Stars we didn't know we needed.
🇰🇷 Kim Yeji 🤝 Yusuf Dikeç 🇹🇷 photo.twitter.com/gfkyGjFg4I
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 1, 2024
South Korean female shooter Kim Ye-ji brings 'main character energy'
Earlier this week, a South Korean Olympic shooter who won silver in the women's 10-meter air pistol also went viral.
Kim, 31, sporting her black South Korean uniform pulled up to the neck, a baseball cap and wire-framed shooting glasses, appeared almost preternaturally calm in videos showing her and her teammate achieving the top two shooting scores in Paris on Sunday.
Following her victory, a 27-second clip went viral showing Kim with the same ultra-calm demeanor aiming, firing her gun and checking her record-breaking score.
The video, which appears to have been first shared on a Reddit thread, actually shows Kim at the World Cup in Baku in May, not in Paris.
But while social media platform X flagged some posts for sharing the footage out of context, the video continued to spread online alongside images of Kim from Paris.
Kim was quickly declared “the coolest style star of this year's Games” by style magazine GQ.
“The first Olympic athlete stepped out onto the shooting range at the Chateauroux shooting centre looking like an ultra-contemporary sci-fi assassin dressed in sportswear,” said GQ.
A video post declaring Kim had “the most main character energy” racked up more than 28 million views in one day.
The video spawned Kim fan art, multiple edits setting the clip to K-pop music, and countless memes, including some that speak to her unique “aura.”
Kim, who is ranked first in the women's 10m air pistol and fourth in the 25m pistol, will be shooting again this week in Paris.
For Kim, the 25-meter event is actually her specialty, and fans will be able to watch her in the preliminaries on Friday and the finals the following day.
“I am confident at all times… I, Kim Ye-ji, will win gold no matter what,” she told reporters.
Kim, who lists sleeping as one of her hobbies, told South Korean media she hoped to talk to her five-year-old daughter after all her events were over.
Asked what she wanted to tell him, Kim gleefully said of her newfound online notoriety: “I guess I've gotten a little bit famous now.”
