Olympics 2024 | 51-year-old Turkish shooter wins silver medal with limited equipment; goes viral

Along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan, Yusuf Dikec won the silver medal wearing prescription glasses and earplugs.

A 51-year-old Turkish shooter called Yusuf Dikec won the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event final and took the internet by storm.

Competitors in shooting events generally wear specialised glasses and ear-protectors to aid them in their sport but the Turkish shooter used very limited equipment. Along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan, he won the second place wearing prescription glasses and earplugs.

India Today reports that he is competing in Olympic Games for the fifth time, and he made his first appearance in Beijing in 2008. He won his first-ever Olympic medal in the Paris Games.

One user commented, "51-year-old Yusuf Dikec of Turkey shows up without any specialist equipment for shooting, looking like he just came out of the crowd and gave it a go… he just casually took home silver at the Olympics".

Another wrote, "Did Turkey send a hitman to the Olympics?"

In the end the shooting event came down to Serbia's Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec and Turkey's Dikec and Tarhan, where Serbia recovered from 8-2 to 16-14 to win the gold medal. India's Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh bagged the bronze medal in the same match.

Bhaker is 22 years old but vastly experienced considering her rise to prominence since winning a medal as a bubbly teenager at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Manu Bhaker etched her name into Indian sporting folklore by becoming the first from the country to bag two medals in a single Olympics.

“I can’t call myself that (legend). If people call me that then I’m grateful they do but my journey will continue and it’s not stopping for me. I will keep working hard no matter if I win or lose. You guys are making me realise (the magnanimity of of the achievement). I have always looked forward to athletes like Neeraj and Sindhu who have always been able to prove themselves. There are my seniors and I can’t compete with them,” she said.

(With PTI Inputs)