Yusuf Dikeç (born 1 January 1973) is a Turkish sport shooter who competes in the pistol events. He is a retired non-commissioned officer of the Turkish Gendarmerie and a member of Jandarma Gücü Sports Club.[1][2] He has been subject to overnight fame and various Internet memes due to his casual attire combined with minimal equipment during the 2024 Summer Olympics in which he won a silver medal in the 10 meter air pistol mixed team event alongside his teammate Şevval İlayda Tarhan.[3] Dikeç used the following expression in his life philosophy on the official Olympic page: "Success doesn't come with your hands in your pockets."[4]
Early life
Yusuf Dikeç was born in 1973 in Taşoluk village of Göksun district in Kahramanmaraş Province. After his primary schooling in his village, he completed his secondary education in Göksun. In 1994, he enrolled at the Military School of Gendarmerie in Ankara. After graduation, he became a corporal and entered duty in Mardin. In 1999, Dikeç re-entered the Military School of Gendarmerie. After one year, he graduated with the rank of sergeant serving in the Gendarmerie Special Public Security Command. He served one year in Istanbul, and then was appointed to Jandarma Gücü in Ankara, the sports club of the Turkish Gendarmerie.[2][5]
In 2001, he began sport shooting. Since then, Dikeç competes on the military national team as well as the national team.[2][5] He was educated in physical education and sports at Gazi University in Ankara.[1]
Sport career
Dikeç became the Turkish champion several times and is the national record holder in different categories of pistol events.[2]
At the 2013 European Shooting Championships held in Osijek, Croatia, from 21 July to 4 August, he became double gold medalist in 25 m standard pistol and 25 m center-fire pistol. He took also a silver medal in the 25 m standard team event with his teammates Fatih Kavruk and Murat Kılınç and another gold medal in the 25 m center-fire pistol team competition.[10] In the 50 m pistol event, he won another silver medal with his teammates Ömer Alimoğlu and İsmail Keleş.[11]
In this event, Dikeç went viral for his "seeming nonchalance" and "noticeably casual vibe". While many of his competitors wore large, bulky ear protectors, visors, and high-tech shooting glasses, Dikeç, at age 51, wore a jersey that resembled an ordinary T-shirt and regular eyeglasses, with barely noticeable earplugs, and shot with one hand casually tucked in his trouser pocket.[3][15][16] He was praised on social media for this unusual attitude towards a global sporting event.[17] Dikeç was compared to James Bond[18] or a hitman[19] on social media posts; Variety dubbed him the "Turkish John Wick."[20] Dikeç's casual appearance and his nonchalant pose became the subject of a number of Internet memes and were mimicked by other athletes at the Paris Olympics including Armand Duplantis, Nina Kennedy and Rojé Stona.[21] Dikeç embraced the memes, posting a compilation of them on his Instagram page.[22]
Following the 2024 Summer Olympics, Dikeç sought to register his shooting pose as a trademark in Turkey.[23]
