The Daily Populous Sunday February 8th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by sports.yahoo.com and submitted by komodo_dragonzord

Yusuf Dekic claimed the gold medal at the ESC European Champions League and proved his relaxed style of shooting is a force to be reckoned with.

The 52-year-old shot to fame in the summer of last year with his performance at the Olympics in Paris as, dressed in a white T-shirt and glasses, he won a silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event alongside Sevval Llayda Tarhan.

That was the first ever medal won in shooting for his home nation of Turkey and the almost nonchalant way Dekic went about his business, with his non-shooting hand resting in his pocket, created a buzz on social media.

Yusuf Dekic won the gold medal in the European Champions League after becoming a viral sensation during Paris 2024 (REUTERS)

Dekic’s lack of professional equipment was also eye-catching at such a high-performance event like the Olympics and his style has seen him excel in the sport.

Alongside a different teammate, Mustafa Inan, Dekic won the gold at the European Champions League in Istanbul, defeating Germany in the final by striking the same pose he had used in the Olympics.

"Representing my country in front of a home crowd, with the tournament held in Istanbul for the first time, is a great honour. Winning gold here makes me very happy,” Dikec told Turkiye Today following his victory.

The Turkish shooter made his Olympic debut in Beijing 2008 at the age of 35 and has featured at every Olympics since then including London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Dekic became Turkey's oldest medal winner with his silver in Paris (REUTERS)

In London he finished 13th in the men’s 50m free pistol event and was repeatedly outside the top-10 until his medal performance in Paris last year.

That result earned Dikec a place in history by becoming Turkiye’s oldest Olympic medallist aged 51 years and 212 days old.

He is a multiple national champion and now an eight-time European champion. Dekic has also won two World Championship titles, both in 2014, where he was victorious in the men’s 25m centerfire pistol and the men’s 25m standard pistol events.

EmotionalHighway on February 8th, 2026 at 05:23 UTC »

“Everybody liked that”

best_of_badgers on February 7th, 2026 at 19:37 UTC »

Gotta be awkward having any European sports championship for the next two weeks or so