Carlos Yulo’s Olympic gold medal haul caps decade of struggle

Philippines’ Carlos Yulo poses with the gold medal during the podium ceremony for the artistic gymnastics men’s vault event of the Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on August 4, 2024. —Photo by Loic Venence/Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines — Carlos Yulo zoomed in on the features of the Olympic gold medal he was tightly clutching, as he was extra motivated by Hidilyn Diaz’s kind gesture of letting him hold that precious piece of metal back in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Yulo won’t be green with envy anymore after earning his own gold medal in the ongoing Paris Olympics on Saturday night in a sequence filled with anticipation from a homeland awaiting its next hero after Diaz.

He then followed it up with another gold finish in the vault final just 24 hours after, sealing his place as the most successful Olympian in the country’s history.

And as in the case of Diaz, who gifted the Philippines its first triumph in the Olympics, Yulo’s gold medal haul in Paris was the by-product of more than a decade of struggle for perfection.

“It’s really overwhelming to have this experience. I always say experience, experience and there’s no problem there, but this is the one that will leave a mark in my heart and the whole Philippines,” Yulo told One Sports after the awarding ceremonies of his floor exercise win where the country’s national anthem blared loud and proud.

READ: Gymnast Carlos Yulo gives PH its second Olympic gold

“This isn’t the perfect competition, but this is the perfect moment for me.”

Even the way he took up the sport wasn’t perfect.

Grandpa’s prodding

The 24-year-old from Leveriza, Manila, was a curious onlooker during national team practices at nearby Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, and he needed a push from his grandfather, Rodrigo Frisco, who saw a spritely 7-year-old acrobatically throwing himself into the air at a playground back home.

It was Frisco who brought him for formal training to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) training facility a very short time later.

Yulo’s baptism of fire came in local tournaments a year later before participating in his first Palarong Pambansa in 2009 held in Tacloban City, Leyte, where he was part of the triumphant gold-winning National Capital Region team in boys’ artistic gymnastics.

He netted his first medal—a silver—in the floor exercise, but wound up fifth in the all-around event, prompting the skinny 9-year-old kid to train harder for the next Palarong Pambansa.

With the full support of his parents Mark Andrew and Angelica Yulo and continuous training at the GAP facility, Yulo captured the gold medal in the individual all-around and floor exercise during the 2010 Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac City where he also claimed a bronze in the vault.

Yulo just kept on getting better each year, finally winning the vault as well as the floor exercise and all-around in the 2011 edition of the Palarong Pambansa in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.

He followed it up by dominating the Philippine National Games in the same year with golds in the floor exercise, rings and parallel bars.

Move to Japan

Carlos Yulo wins two medals in Japan tournament. MUNEHIRO KUGIYAMA PHOTO

Stockpiling medals in succeeding Palaro editions, Yulo was ready to take on a bigger challenge in the international level. With coach Aldrin Castañeda guiding him, he seized gold medals in the floor exercise and parallel bars in the 2014 Asean School Games.

When Yulo participated in the International Junior Competition in Yokohama, Japan, in 2015, his bronze performance in the vault behind Youth Olympic medalists Giarnni Regini-Moran and Yue Ma attracted attention, earning him a scholarship from the International Gymnastics Federation.

With serious financial backing from the Philippine Sports Commission and the MVP Sports Foundation, Yulo made his move to Japan in 2016 where he was coached by Munehiro Kugimiya, which came with the blessings of the GAP headed by Cynthia Carrion.

The Japan Olympic Association offered Yulo to train in Japan where he eventually graduated in 2022 with an associate degree in literature at Teikyo University in Itabashi, Tokyo.

READ: Driven by Olympic failure, Yulo delivers in stage as grand 

In the 2018 Melbourne World Cup, the Filipino dynamo achieved his first podium performance on a global stage, claiming a bronze medal in the vault.

He followed it up with a silver in the same event in the Baku World Cup and added another silver in the floor exercise of the Doha World Cup, earning Yulo three medals in the worlds in a span of a month.

Inspiration to siblings

The World Championship in Doha, Qatar, that same year put Yulo level with the world’s best after snaring a bronze medal in the floor exercise.

But it was Yulo’s victory in the same discipline in the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany that finally installed him as a global force in the sport.

From thereon, winning medals for Yulo has turned into an anticipated occasion for the Philippines, especially in the Southeast Asian Games beginning in 2019 in Manila as well his annual stints in the Asian championships.

At this point, Yulo inspired his younger siblings Karl Jahrel Eldrew and Elaiza to pick up gymnastics. Joriel, his older sister, was a performer of the National University Pep Squad.

Paris gold

Philippines’ Carlos Yulo celebrates after winning the artistic gymnastics men’s vault final during the Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on August 4, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Yulo eventually became a two-time world champion after bagging the gold medal in the vault in the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, where he also landed a silver in the parallel bars.

But Yulo’s initial journey to the Olympics in Tokyo back in 2021 didn’t end well, missing the final in most of his events, except for the vault where he ended up fourth.

Over the next three years, Yulo continued to frolic on the Asian medal stands. He claimed a silver in the vault and a bronze in the floor exercise during the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, England.

Hounded by issues about his split with Kugimiya last year and setting up camp in Manila, Yulo simply brushed the controversy aside and made the Paris Olympics gold a top priority with a sense of urgency.