ANKARA: In spite of his innumerable admirers on the internet and his Olympic medal, Turkish sharpshooter Yusuf Dikec wants to stay grounded. Images of the athlete casually cocking his handgun went viral on social media platforms worldwide. He won his silver medal in Paris, without wearing safety goggles or headphones.
However, Dikec maintained that he remained "the same man" despite his meteoric rise to prominence on the internet. "The day after our silver medal, everyone was talking to me about the number of times my photos were shared on social networks," Dikec told AFP . "But it doesn’t matter to me.
I'll continue my life as before," he said, speaking at the complex in the Turkish capital Ankara where he trains. The master marksman's relaxed pose, widely imitated by his fellow athletes, has become associated with victory with many of his Olympic peers. Even Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has shared a video of himself striking the stance, viewed 170 million times.
Dikec's self-confidence and sangfroid have inspired a flood of online memes. "The name’s Dikec. Yusuf Dikec," said posts by some users in reference to cinema spy icon James Bond.
Other memes added a cigarette to his mouth, emphasising his casual posture, while others put Dikec as a character in the seminal action film "The Matrix". But for the 51-year-old, the real prize was winning Turkey’s first medal in the mixed-team 10m air pistol with teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan. Dikec said t.