this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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I keep seeing him but can't figure out his role in the memes. Is it random like the orb thing?

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[–] [email protected] 118 points 4 months ago (6 children)

We're used to people who compete at world class levels having the highest tech, equipment, and perfect poise.

This guy competed in an extremely casual way, and still won silver.

It's just a humorous subversion of expectations, especially compared to some of the other competitors in the same sport.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Remember when the Olympics was about sending ordinary people who were good at a skill to compete, instead of a life-long career pushing body and tech to the edge to see who would win the arms race of a sport?

I don't either, it's been a while. As a 70s kid it was the same as it is now, just less knowledge of how to squeeze everything out of an athlete.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Don't give up hope! We still have a long way to go in terms of optimal athlete squeezing 👍

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Can't wait til they allow doping! 🇷🇺🤩 /s

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

They don't allow doping? 🇨🇳👀

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

And best of all, in a ton of countries, once these athletes have competed, they STILL won't make much money to make up for the years of hardcore work to reach this level and make their country proud.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

There's nothing wrong with his poise. He's not wearing headgear besides his glasses, but otherwise he's standing pretty much the same as other shooters. A lot of shooters wear eye shades or visors, but most of them stand like that. You place your off hand in your pocket, and lean back slightly to align the sights. It's not the first time a shooter's pose has gone viral for looking like a casual badass gangster.

see: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vitalina-batsarashkina-olympic-shooter-one-hand-stance/

And here are a bunch more shooters. Note how many aren't wearing headgear or eye pieces.

https://img.olympics.com/images/image/private/t_16-9_380/f_auto/primary/aotouao8efquumuiekw6

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (4 children)

It is such a perfect example of the internet that the woman in this pose is treated like a fool and the man with the exact same pose is some kind of badass.

[–] xenspidey 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This has nothing to do with male or female. It all started with the Korean women shooter looking badass with all her kit and pose. Then this middle age dad showed up with no kit, regular glasses and shot incredibly well looking like, yeah no big deal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

It started a lot longer ago than that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’m not seeing that? She didn’t get memed as much for sure

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

During the Tokyo games in 2021, an image of the 2016 Rio games gold medal winner was posted on Twitter (erroneously being labelled as being from the Tokyo games), and she became a meme for women not knowing how to shoot because of her casual stance, and the subsequent meme for armchair experts trying to mansplain shooting to a gold medalist. At the time, it was a popular meme.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I think she looks like a badass, especially with that Witcher medallion hanging off her belt loop.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

The woman is also a badass in her own way and people memed on how cool she moved as well.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Got it, thanks.

I think my problem is that so many of the mews don't even reference him being in every man, or not using specialized equipment, they just have a picture of him with no context or caption

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

If his teammates weren't busy being failures, he would have won gold. Dude was the highest individual scorer I believe.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 months ago

I find it to be an extremely stupid meme. He lost to someone using high tech shit. I don't get why people are trying to make him into something more than he was.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To be fair though the fancy equipment isn’t giving any sort of advantage or anything. It’s just applying prescription eyeglasses to shooting. Apart from that no difference with other competitors.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I've seen the photo of the Korean Olympic shooter. That headgear isn't just prescription eyeglasses.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It’s intended to replace prescription eyeglasses because they are inconvenient to shoot with.

It has the same function, except tailored to shooting (only one eye). So you aren’t getting a noticeable advantage vs someone with perfect eyesight (otherwise it wouldnt be legal at olympics).

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

They also let you adjust the aperture size with an iris and/or apply colored filters! The filters help with the harsh lighting, and the aperture helps reduce strain on your eye. It's a bit like having a supportive insole for your face.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If it wasn't an advantage over regular glasses, they would wear regular glasses.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Because regular eyeglasses have glare and acuity problems that disadvantage the shooter.

You can read about the topic here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_glasses

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That they even allow acuity correction is different from all other sports. For example my vision is very far from human perfect. 20/20 is average but some people have natural 20/10 vision. Similarly some people are naturally stronger than me but I wouldn't be allowed to use a passive device (like an arm extension that would give mechanical advantage to throwing) to compensate for my natural average strength.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Right, I mean what sport would use an arm extension for mechanical advantage like a cricket bat, a field hockey stick, a badminton racket, a ping pong paddle, a lacrosse stick, a vaulting pole, a tennis racket, a golf club, ski poles, ice hockey sticks, or curling brooms?

If the equipment is available to all, it's not creating an unfair advantage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Everyone has the same equipment in those games. That equipment is carefully regulated.

Regulating how much a human can be enhanced isn't a weird concept. Nike shoes and shark swimsuits were also banned. Here's a science YouTuber that covers the issue and specifically mentions the glasses that shooters are allowed.

https://youtu.be/pfIWxFIVP_Y?si=fRcpzRnhFm1h2267

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It does provide an advantage. One side of the headgear obfuscates vision from that eye so that they can shoot with both eyes open, but don't have to learn how to block out input from the non targeting eye. The shooting eye lens can be prescription, but the main purpose is to narrow their field of vision, providing increased focus, and essentially becoming a 3rd sighting aperture. They're legal because all of the shooters have the option to use them, and most do, because they provide an advantage. The Turkish shooter doesn't use them because he's trained a lifetime without them and has learned to ignore input from his non-sighting eye. That, combined with his T-shirt as a uniform, and his casual demeanor, is what people find appealing.