Yusuf DIKEÇ

Interestingly, Dikec’s philosophy in life is ‘Success doesn’t come with your hands in your pockets.’ Ironically, Dikec won the biggest prize of his shooting career and became a household phenomenon globally with one hand in his pocket.

Dikec’s moment of glory at Paris 2024 and viral shooting pose, however, are not only his claim to fame.

Born on January 1, 1973, in the Taşoluk village of Göksun district in Turkiye’s Kahramanmaraş Province, Yusuf Dikec attended military school and became a non-commissioned officer in the Turkish Gendarmerie.

He took up sports shooting in 2001, when he was 28, while serving. Before long, he started competing for the military and his country in pistol events across the world. In 2006, he set a new world record in the 25m centre fire pistol event at the CISM Military World Championships held in Rena, Norway.

Yusuf Dikec: From military man to pistol podium in Paris

At the age of 35, Yusuf Dikec made his Olympic debut at Beijing 2008 and has been a constant fixture in Turkiye’s Olympic shooting contingents since, appearing at London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

However, the silver medal at Paris 2024 is the only occasion that Dikec has managed to finish in the top 10 in any Olympic event in his five Summer Games appearances.

At Paris 2024, Dikec and Tarhan shot 582 to top the qualifiers but lost out to Serbian pair Damir Mikec and Zorana Arunović 16-14 in the gold medal match. However, the podium finish made Dikec, who was 51 years and 212 days old at the time, Turkiye’s oldest Olympic medal winner.

Dikec has also tasted success at the ISSF World Championships and has won five medals in the competition. Four of them - two golds, one silver and one bronze - came in Grenada in 2014. The other, a silver, was won in 2023 at Baku.

The Turkish shooter also has an enviable record at ISSF World Cup, having won three golds and four bronze medals. He is also a multiple-time European champion in different pistol events.