The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will bring together some of the world’s best athletes to do incredible sporting feats, like defying gravity with somersaults and swimming at super-speed. These feats of strength are enough to make any average person’s jaw drop. But this year’s athletes are also known for something else: hilarious memes. For example, the Olympic shooting competitions have inspired a wave of memes and fan art on platforms like X — and now people are re-imagining the athletes as anime characters.
Olympic shooting competitions come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the weapons used and the distance to the target. To maximize their performance, some competitors in the shooting competitions wear small goggles and other accessories that look like futuristic technology from a cyberpunk world. That, combined with a unique stance while aiming, has piqued the interest of fans online.
Korean competitor Kim Yeji stunned fans with her icy stare, small glasses and confident, powerful pose as she shot. Daehan-choe — also from Korea — inspired many jokes because he arched his back while aiming, making him look like a character from a movie JoJo’s bizarre adventure. Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec became an overnight viral sensation simply because he looked like a regular old office guy: he competed in a simple shirt, pants and his regular glasses, and still won silver in his event.
As people watched the shootings, they took to the internet to create memes of the participants. People created reaction images and exploitable meme formats. But the best part so far was the art. reinvent the competitors as anime characters. Below you can see Kim, Dikec and more reimagined as anime characters.
Some fans have turned the joke around and created fan art that re-imagines anime characters as Olympians. Below you can see Osamu Dazai from Bungo Stray Dogs drawn like an Olympian.
Feel free to scroll down for more anime and trigger-happy video games about the Olympics.
With the obsession with athletes like “horse man” Stephen Nedoroscik and the Olympic Village Chocolate MuffinsThe competition for a top Olympic meme this year is tough. But thanks to people online, any moment — including a Turkish dude taking a shot — can be turned into viral entertainment. So even when all the shooting competitions are over, we can still enjoy it.