Heading into the Olympics just a few weeks ago, all eyes were on swimmer Katie Ledecky, sprinters Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, and, of course, gymnasts Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade. There are also dozens – likely even hundreds – of athletes and competitors who probably didn’t expect to get their moment in the spotlight, but some still caught the attention for good or bad.
While we need to say no more about the French pole vaulter, there were Yusuf Dikec and Kim Ye-ji—two of the competition shooters who each won silver medals in their respective competitions. Even that fact might not have been enough to gain much attention, given that the shooting sports at the games are overshadowed by the events on the track, in the pool, and in the gymnastics arena.
Yet, Dikec and Kim took the world by storm thanks in no small part to social media, where their respective stances became memes. South Korea’s Kim – decked out in all-black sportswear, red-laced Sauer pistol shoes, and wire-rimmed shooting glasses with hinged lenses – was compared to a sci-fi assassin or James Bond-worthy villain. About the only giveaway that wasn’t the case was the elephant stuffed animal on her waistband, a good-luck charm from her five-year-old daughter. The 31-year-old took home silver in the women’s 10-meter air pistol event, becoming an Internet sensation in the process.
By contrast, Türkiye’s Dikec was noted for his nonchalant pose, with his off-hand tucked into his pocket. Instead of such high-tech and specialized gear, he opted for yellow earplugs and wore his regular glasses. It was enough to get Dikec and his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan the second podium spot in the mixed 10-meter air pistol event. He told Reuters, “I think my shooting pose represented the Olympic spirit very well: the fair play, simplicity, clarity, and naturalness. That’s why it got so much attention.”
The First Shooters to Stand Out Were at the First Modern Games
Though the shooting sports have been overshadowed by the more mainstream events – and aren’t getting nearly as much attention as new additions like skateboarding and breaking (break dancing) – shooting has been part of the modern Olympic Games since the first one was held in 1896 in Athens.
Sixty-one shooters from seven nations took part, a sizable number given that a total of only 241 men represented 14 nations. Just three nations won medals. Almost expectedly that included host nation Greece’s Pantelis Karasevdas, a military officer who saw service in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and later served in the resistance in German-occupied Greece during World War II, he won the 200-meter military rifle. Ioannis Frangoudis, another Hellenic Army officer, became the first and, to date, only Greek athlete to win gold, silver, and bronze in a single Olympic Games (although they didn’t receive actual medals at the 1896 games, medals were retroactively assigned).
The other two nations to win medals were Denmark and the United States.
Alexander Viggo Jensen of Denmark finished third in the 300-meter free rifle, three-position event, but he is noteworthy for also winning gold and silver in the two-hand lift and one-hand lift weightlifting events. Jensen also finished fourth in the now-defunct rope climbing, which was part of the gymnastic events. Perhaps now that Biles has announced her likely Olympic retirement, she should try her hand at shooting!
American brothers John and Sumner Paine each won gold medals – John in the 25-meter military pistol and his brother Sumner in the 30-meter free pistol, while Sumner took silver in the 25-meter event. It has been suggested that the Paines’ Colt revolvers were far superior to that of their opponents. John withdrew from the 30-meter free pistol, saying that he didn’t want to embarrass his Greek hosts, but he and his brother also had an agreement that whoever won the first event between them would drop out of the next event.
The Oldest Gold Medalist Was a Shooter
This year’s game included Zheng Haohao, an 11-year-old from China who is competing in skateboarding. While she is the youngest competitor this year, the first Olympic Games featured Dimitrois Loundras, a Greek gymnast who was just 10 years old when he won a team bronze medal.
By contrast, Oscar Gomer Swahn was 60 when he won two gold medals in the running deer single-shot events – both individual and team – and a bronze medal in the running deer double-shot event at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Four years later, he won another gold medal in the single shot running dear team event and another bronze in the double shot event. At 64 years and 258 days of age, he remains the oldest gold medalist. Moreover, he competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp and won a silver medal – making him the oldest medalist in the Olympic Games.
Disabled Athlete Scored Gold
A small number of athletes have overcome physical disabilities, and that includes Hungary’s Károly Takács. The world-class shooter was denied a place on the Hungarian shooting team for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin due to his being a sergeant in the Hungarian Army, as only commissioned officers were allowed to compete. After the ban was lifted, he set his sights on the 1940 Sumer Olympic Games that were scheduled to be held in Tokyo.
However, during a training exercise, Takács suffered a serious injury to his right hand when a faulty grenade exploded. He switched to shooting with his left hand, practicing in secret. The 1940 and 1944 games were canceled due to the Second World War, but Takács successfully competed in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London, winning gold in the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol, a feat he accomplished again at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki.
America’s Six-Time Olympic Medal Winner
Though she retired from Olympic competition after Rio, California native Kim Rhode has the distinction of being a six-time Olympic medal winner, including three gold medals. She won her first gold medal in double trap at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the youngest female gold medalist in Olympic shooting. Rhode won gold again in double trap in 2004 in Athens and then in skeet in 2012.
She is the first Olympian to win a medal on five continents the first Summer Olympian, and the first woman, to win an individual medal at six consecutive games. Rhode has announced that she may make a comeback and attend the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shooters From Chile and Guatemala Won Gold in Paris
Dikec and Kim have scored big on social media for their unique stances, but in Paris, two women shooters earned gold medals.
Though this wasn’t Chilean Francisca Crovetto Chadid’s first Olympic appearance – as she competed in London in 2012, Rio in 2016, and Tokyo in 2021 – the fourth time was the charm, as she defeated the UK’s Amber Rutter in a tiebreaker to take the gold medal in women’s skeet. It is just the third gold medal for the Chilean Olympic Team overall, while she became the first Chilean woman ever to top the podium and only second woman to medal at the Olympic Games.
Adriana Ruano Oliva became the first-ever gold medal winner from Guatemala at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, where she also set a new Olympic record in women’s trap. Her story is similar to that of Alexander Viggo Jensen of Denmark in that she was originally a gymnast and was qualifying for the 2012 games when she discovered she had six damaged vertebrae – which ended her gymnastic career but not her Olympic dreams.
On the doctor’s advice, she took up shooting, and her dreams came true!
