After Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç won a silver medal in the Paris Olympics 2024, a post is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) stating that Yusuf Dikeç, who won a silver medal in air pistol at the 2024 Paris Olympics, picked up the sport after a heated argument with his ex-wife and credits his success to his newfound passion for seeing his kids and a relentless drive to prove his ex-wife wrong. It further adds that before taking up the sport, he worked as a mechanic in Istanbul. After winning, Dikec stood emotionless on the Olympic podium and said “Sharon, if you’re watching this, I want my dog back.”Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Yusuf Dikec, who won a silver medal in air pistol at the 2024 Paris Olympics, picked up the sport after a heated argument with his ex-wife. Before taking up the sport he worked as a mechanic in Istanbul.
Fact: The statements made in the viral claim are posted by a Facebook page named ‘The Sports Memery’ which is a satire/parody page. The page itself posted that the post is not real. Yusuf Dikeç revealed that he began his competitive shooting career in 2001, after starting his role as a non-commissioned officer with the Gendarmerie General Command. He has competed in the Olympics five times: in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. Hence the claim made in the post is False.
A relevant keyword search on the viral claim revealed that the post by the Facebook page The Sports Memery was the earliest instance of the claim on 1 August 2024. The page’s bio reads: “Satire / Parody & memes. Everything here is fictional. Sports are funny—join us for a laugh.” The following day, 2 August 2024, the page clarified that the post was satirical and that none of the content was factual.
A subsequent search of the biography of Yusuf Dikec revealed that Dikeç began his competitive shooting career in 2001, after starting his role as a non-commissioned officer with the Gendarmerie General Command. His bio on the Olympics website mentioned that he was born in Turkey and is an Athlete by profession. It was nowhere mentioned that he was a mechanic. He has competed in the Olympics four times before 2024 Paris Olympics, in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) mentioned that Dikec had been shooting since 2001 and showed his marital status as ‘single’.
To sum up, the viral story about Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç and his alleged ex-wife originated as a satire.
