Turkey Olympics Shooter Yusuf Dikec playing from 2008 | Claim- 51 year old shooter won silver without kit: arrived with only pistol; was also wearing ear buds

Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec won the silver medal in the mixed doubles event at the Paris Olympics.

Turkey’s 51-year-old shooter Yusuf Dikec has become a social media star these days. He won the silver medal in the 10 meter air pistol mixed team event of the Paris Olympics on 31 July. After the video of this event went viral on social media, it is being claimed that Yusuf achieved this success without using a shooting kit.

It is being said that in the final of the shooting event, Yusuf held his pistol, kept one hand in his pocket and along with fellow player Sewal Ilayda Tarhan, won the Olympic silver medal for the country. It is even being said that he is inexperienced and was playing in the Olympics for the first time.

Whereas the reality is that Yusuf has been playing Olympics since 2008. This is his 5th Olympics and he used a shooting equipment. He wore a small yellow earplug to cancel out the external sound.

Turkiye’s Yusuf Dikec (right) and Ilayda Tarhan (left) with their silver medals in the 10m air pistol mixed event.

Claim- Yusuf landed without wearing protective gear
It is being said on social media that Yusuf went for shooting without wearing eye and ear protective gear i.e. shooting kit.

Reality- Yusuf had come down wearing earplugs
However, the truth is that Yusuf did use small earplugs so that he could ignore the outside sound. The earplugs were not visible in the photo and video, so users assumed that Yusuf had come down without the shooting kit. In the photo below, it is clearly visible that Yusuf had used earplugs. His partner had used the complete shooting kit.

From this angle, it is clearly visible that Yusuf Dikec (right) is wearing yellow earbuds. However, this is his only shooting gear other than the gun.

Missed gold by 2 points
This is not the first time that Turkey’s Yusuf is playing in the Olympics. He first participated in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. However, he achieved success only now at the age of 16. The silver medal in the 10 meter air pistol event is the first Olympic medal of his career. Not only this, this is also Turkey’s first Olympic medal in shooting history.

Yusuf and his partner Tarhan lost the gold medal to the Serbian pair by a margin of just 2 points. The Serbian pair of Damir Mikec and Zorana Arunovic won the gold medal by a margin of 16-14. In the same event, the Indian pair of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh won the bronze medal.

All the medalists in the 10m air pistol mixed event. Serbia got gold, Turkey got silver and India got bronze medal.

What is in a shooting kit?
Two equipments are used in the shooting kit. One is glasses and the other is headphones. Glasses have two lenses, the first lens removes blurred vision and the second lens gives concentration on the target. Whereas headphones provide noise cancellation, i.e. the shooter does not hear any external sound.

Users said- Did Turkey send a hitman?
Users on social media say that Yusuf won the silver medal without using even a single shooting kit. That is why he is also going viral. A photo of him surfaced, in which Yusuf was seen wearing a white T-shirt, he kept one hand in his pocket and won the medal by taking aim.

Users on social media are now making him more famous with funny comments. A user asked, ‘Has Turkey sent a hitman to the Olympics?’ Hitman means a professional shooter, who is paid to kill a person. A user wrote, ‘Turkey sent a 51-year-old youth, who won silver without special lenses and ear protection.’ To which ‘X’ owner Elon Musk also replied saying ‘nice’.

Yusuf will also play in 2028 Olympics

Yusuf won the silver medal in the mixed shooting event. However, he finished 13th in the men’s individual event. After the medal-winning performance, he said that winning a gold medal in the 2028 Olympics is his next target. On the use of shooting gear, he said, ‘Shooting is my natural game, I don’t need much equipment for it.’