Turkish Olympic medalist Dikec’s banter with Musk sets social media on fire

Türkiye's famous sports shooter Yusuf Dikec shot to fame after a picture of him, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, casually taking aim with one hand in his pocket, went viral on social media.

He won a silver medal without any professional equipment or special glasses. Now he’s once again going viral on X after his brief conversation with Elon Musk that has received thousands of likes.

“Hi Elon, do you think future robots can win medals at the Olympics with their hands in their pockets? How about discussing this in Istanbul, the cultural capital that unites continents?” he asked Musk.

The US-based tech executive responded with a warning: “Robots will hit the centre of the bullseye every time”.

However, Musk quickly retweeted saying that he’s looking forward to visiting Istanbul, calling it “one of the great cities of the world.”

Dikec has grabbed Musk’s attention before.

When a social media user posted Dikec's trending picture when it was doing the rounds on social media, Musk had commented "Nice" to the Turkish pistol shooter.

The last time Musk visited Türkiye was in November, 2017, when he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They had discussed electric car manufacturing and sustainable energy.

Last September, Erdogan met Musk in New York City, and invited him to Türkiye, to set up Tesla factory.

Musk had responded by saying that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Türkiye is among the most important candidates for its next factory.

Casually wins a silver medal

Dikec has gone viral on social media for his seemingly casual attitude while shooting his way to a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics.

The most-shared images shows Dikec taking aim in a nonchalant pose: in a T-shirt with one hand in the pocket of his pants, and wearing a standard pair of prescription glasses. He has been subjected to multiple memes and people have compared him to the guy next door and even a hitman.

Dikec won a silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event alongside Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.

Dikec was 13th in his individual event.

He's looking ahead to the Summer Games in 2028. “I hope next in Los Angeles is a gold medal,” he said last week.