Carlos Yulo can’t find words to explain floor exercise loss
Carlos Yulo during the men’s all around gymnastics qualification. INQUIRER PHOTO/FRANCIS OCHOA
TOKYO—Carlos Yulo was at a loss for words Saturday night after failing to qualify for the floor exercise final, the gymnastics event where he was favored to win a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics here.
After some time, he found a few that described how he felt—although he might have been speaking for a hope-harboring country as well.
“Masakit po eh. Masakit. Masakit po talaga (It hurt. It hurt. It really hurt),” he said before walking out of Ariake Gymnastics center here.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said in Filipino.
“I came here really prepared. I did my best,” Yulo added. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant for me.”
Yulo fumbled a landing early in his routine and wound up scoring low on execution to finish with 13.566 points.
Yulo, the reigning world champion in floor exercise, finished 44th in the event.
Yulo made it to the vault final, however, placing sixth in the preliminaries with 14.712.
Officials had pinned their hopes on Yulo delivering the first Olympic gold for the Philippines via his pet floor exercise while finishing at the podium in vault and the parallel bars.
Tokyo Olympics: Carlos Yulo in men's all-around qualifications
Carlos Yulo's performance in the men's all around qualifications in the Tokyo Olympics. He made the final of the vault event but finished 44th in the floor exercise, where he was favored to win.Follow Inquirer Sports' coverage of #Tokyo2020 inq.news/Tokyo2020
Posted by Inquirer Sports on Saturday, July 24, 2021
