Yusuf Dikec, the 51-year-old shooter from Turkey, who is going viral on social media

The 51-year-old Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec has gone viral on social media and is all over the internet for his apparent casual attitude during his finals at the Paris Olympics 2024. The apparent ‘badass’ shooter clinched a silver medal at the Games.

The photograph that is going around the internet shows Dikec shooting in a white tee with one hand in his pocket, sporting a seemingly standard pair of black-square glasses and an impassive look on his face, and it looked as effortless as an action hero holding his gun on-screen.

Dikec and Tarhan won the silver medal in mixed team 10-metre air pistol shooting on Tuesday, which marked Turkey's first-ever medal in Olympic shooting.

Unlike Dikec, his teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan was competing with large ear defenders and a visor, as well as braids in the red and white colours denoting the Turkish flag. She, too, was shooting with one hand in her pocket.

A competitor at every Summer Olympics since 2008, has been compared with his Serbian opponent Damir Mikec by the netizens, who was wearing a blinder over one of his eyes, a lens over the other and a large pair of ear defenders.

Dikec finished 13th in his singles event and is now done at the Paris Olympics 2024. He's looking ahead to the next Games in Los Angeles in 2028, though and hopes to grab a gold medal.

Now the question arises, why didn't Dikec wear more gear?

Unlike most other games, shooters have some freedom about how they dress for competition. Many shooters at the Olympic range in Chateauroux, central France, choose to wear visors to reduce the glare of the blinders over one eye so that they get a better focus for the other eye which is looking down the sights.

Dikec was actually wearing a much-needed shooting accessory. He had yellow earplugs in to block out distractions while he shot in the final. They were not not visible from the angle of the image which went viral, making him a sensation.

Just as Dikec, Chinese rifle shooter Liu Yukun too chose just to put in earplugs but no visor. He clinched a gold medal on Thursday for Men’s 50m rifle.