“Natural Shooter” & Turkish Olympic Silver Medalist Yusuf Dikec Is The Paris Summer Games’ Breakout Star

My Would Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec do better with the most up-to-date shooting technology, or would he lose his edge? Only asking because he forwent any special eyewear or headphone ear protection at the Summer Olympics in Paris, opting to pull up in what looked like a football/soccer jersey, standard-issue spectacles, and one hand in his pocket.

That old-school approach translated to a silver medal!

To give you an idea of what other competitive shooters do, here’s a collection of images:

One of the most straightforward — straight shooting? — but profound quotes I’ve heard in a while came courtesy of Dikec when he discussed his unique approach to the Olympics.

Really doesn’t get much cooler than this guy. He looks like he could totally be an undercover operative. I’m not so sure he isn’t in his normal life when he’s not busy training for the Olympics and winning medals.

My Big J Journo research on X/Twitter seems to confirm that Dikec is a cat person, which I guess if you’re a big dog person is about the only red flag/character trait you could poke fun at or take issue with.

Dikec is a retired military officer of Turkey’s Gendarmerie General Command. Across a medley of major international shooting competitions, he’s collected a whopping 10 gold medal, including two at the World Championships and five at the European Championships. He’s had a total of 16 other podium finishes. Most impressive.

Not many men on the planet you’d less want to encounter in a gunfight than Dikec. He’s like a modern-day, throwback Old West duelist to use an American analogy. No fancy tech. No opulent getup. Just pointing, shooting, and beating the vast majority of the competition at the Summer Olympics.

People are saying that Dikec didn’t have any ear protection whatsoever, but I feel like he has at least some kind of itty-bitty earplugs in. Nevertheless, I respect his approach to the game, and that’s far less than his adversaries wear. Just praying on his behalf that he doesn’t have a raging case of tinnitus.