Turkish Olympian Yusuf Dikeç has explained why he doesn’t use any specialised shooting equipment when competing on the range.

Yusuf became an online sensation this week after a picture of him emerged competing in the 10 metre air pistol event at the 2024 Paris Olympics seemingly with no extra equipment whatsoever.

While Yusuf was wearing some earplugs to muffle any distracting noises, he opted to forgo the specialist eyewear and headphones sported by other competitors.

Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç used some earplugs to muffle any distracting sounds, but that was it. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

For example, South Korea’s Kim Yeji turned up to the competition with some very serious-looking eyeglasses.

Looking like something out of a cyberpunk story, the glasses featured a cover on one eye to help the one looking down the gun’s sights to focus better.

Meanwhile the eye she was shooting with was covered by a specialist lens to help her to get a better view of the target.

The athlete also sported a cap with a visor to help minimise glare in her eyes.

But Yusuf took a completely different approach, wearing only his perfectly everyday prescription glasses to the competition.

South Korea’s Kim Yeji, in comparison. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Explaining his decision to forgo the equipment to Turkish media, he said: “I never needed that equipment. I am a natural shooter. That’s why I don’t use many accessories.”

Yusuf and his teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan ended up taking the silver medal for Turkey in the event.

It was Yusuf’s fifth outing to the Olympic games competing in the shooting.

He previously spoke after the event, saying: “I am just very happy about five Olympic Games. We were very strong today in our competition.”

Now, he and his teammate have a gold medal firmly in their crosshairs for the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

He said: “We next [come] to Los Angeles and win a gold medal.”

Yusuf spoke about why he doesn’t use much equipment. (Adem Kutucu/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Athough he may have seemed the very image of level-headed, his teammate revealed this was far from the case.

She said: “He had so much anxiety, so much pressure on his heart. Our heartbeat is really beating. Is really so much beating. It is really hard to shoot in the final of the Olympic games.”

Many people took to social media to share their thoughts after an image of Yusuf casually aiming went viral.

One wrote: “I love how everyone uses specialized lenses for shooting to avoid blur and increase precision…

“But then Turkey sends out a guy who looks like he just picked up the gun for fun and wins silver.”

And another joked: “Did Turkey send a hitman to the Olympics?”

The most bizarre, discontinued Olympic sports

Painting

Back in the day, the Olympics dished out medals for art too, with events including painting and sculpture, as well as music, architecture and even literature.

Making its debut all the way back at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and continuing until the 1948 London games, juries awarded competitors a total of 151 medals for artistic projects inspired by sport.

Tug of War

Bet you didn’t think this playground classic was once part of the Olympics, did you?

Well, it turns out not only was the sport popular, but it stirred up a lot of drama too – with accusations of foul play flying around at the 1908 Olympics in London, with Team USA accusing Team GB of cheating due to their ‘illegal’ heavy footwear.

A mainstay for around five Olympic games from 1900 to 1920, Tug of War enthusiasts have even campaigned for organisers to reintroduce the retired sport back into the Games.

Hot Air Balloon Racing

Launching at the 1900 Olympics, hot air balloon drivers would compete in races scoring how far they could travel, altitude reached, ability to land within the correct coordinates and – to top it all off – who got the best photo from the balloon.

The sport ended up being canned after a ban on motorised sports was brought in.

Live Pigeon Shooting

Also making its debut at the 1900 Olympics, the event was pretty self explanatory – a load of pigeons were released into the air as the competitor tried to shoot as many as possible. Grim.

The event only appeared at the Games once, and all in all, it’s estimated that Olympic hopefuls killed around 300 pigeons.

Pistol Duelling

It doesn’t take much guessing as to why this event was scrapped, but back in 1906, people clearly didn’t bat an eyelid at competitors waving pistols around and shooting at each other.

It began with competitors shooting at dummies, but two years later organisers decided to shake things up and have them shoot at each other with wax bullets. Ouch.

1908 would be the last time the sport was included in the Olympics, so I’m guessing they quickly realised it was a bad idea – wax bullets or not.