Carlos Yulo's golden journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics
A collective cheer swept through the Bercy Arena when a Filipino gymnast had just claimed Olympic gold. Carlos Edriel Yulo's final tumbling pass last Aug. 3 ended in a perfect landing, sealing his gold-medal-winning performance. With this extraordinary feat, he solidified his position as the country's most celebrated gymnast.
Every athlete faces challenges on the path to victory, and Yulo is no exception. He's had his share of personal and professional struggles. Let's take a closer look at Yulo's journey to becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
Gymnastics prodigy
Born on February 16, 2000, Yulo was just a regular kid from Leveriza, Malate, until his grandfather noticed his talent for tumbles at a playground near their home and brought him to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP).
At seven, the boy who would one day be known as the Philippines' gymnastics prodigy, was introduced to GAP. Supported by the free programs of the Philippine Sports Commission, young Yulo immersed himself in a world of balance beams and parallel bars.
Yulo's competitive career started in 2009, earning silver in floor exercise. This early success motivated him to strive for more, and in 2010, he won gold in the individual all-around and floor exercise. He continued to dominate in the following years, showcasing his prodigious talent by winning multiple gold medals.
His coach at the time remarked on Yulo's potential, noting that he was one of the few at his age capable of performing the difficult "triple twist" routine in the floor exercise. Yulo's discipline and determination made him a standout among his peers.
Making his mark on the global stage
Yulo's first taste of international competition came at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships, where he placed sixth in the floor exercise and eighth in the vault. He improved significantly at the International Junior Competition in Yokohama, Japan, earning a bronze medal in the vault finals. This performance caught the eye of Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya, who took Yulo under his wing.
Under Kugimiya's guidance, Yulo won gold medals at the 2016 Pacific Rim Championships. Even a shoulder injury couldn’t dim his shine as he clinched gold in the vault final at the 2017 International Junior Competition.
In 2018, Yulo made history as the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships. The following year, won the Philippines' first-ever world artistic gymnastics gold in the men’s floor exercise and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The athlete continued to achieve success in subsequent competitions, though not without setbacks. In 2022 at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool, England, Yulo settled for the silver in the vault event and a bronze in the parallel bars competition.
"Gymnastics is not always fun and it's not always about winning," he wrote in a post that time. "It’s all about standing up after that fall. To give your all till the dismount, to not give up on what you love, to search for ways to improve, and to not lose to yourself in everyday training. I mean this is definitely not easy but this is my lifestyle."
However, another major setback came at the same competition in 2023 in Antwerp, Belgium, where a mishap on his still rings dismount resulted in a score of 0.
Despite this, he managed to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
The Paris Olympics marked Yulo's first major competition without coach Munehiro Kugimiya, with whom he parted ways in October after seven years. Some speculated that Yulo was not as focused on his gymnastics career, especially after returning to the Philippines. However, Yulo persevered, training under Filipino coach Aldrin Castaneda and even visiting gyms in South Korea and Great Britain to prepare for the Games.
Talking more about the training, Yulo said, “The facilities in the Philippines are not for the high-level athletes.” And so, by training abroad, he wants "to acquire knowledge from other athletes" too.
“I’m asking them a lot of questions, how to do this, how to do that, like especially Jake, I really ask him, ‘How do you do your vaults?’” he said. “It really helped me a lot, not only in gymnastics, in life, as well.”
Golden boy
The Paris Olympics stage was set and 24-year-old Yulo began his campaign on July 31. Despite a stumble on the pommel horse in the first rotation, which earned him a low score of 11.900, he rebounded with scores of 13.933 in the rings and 14.766 in the vault. He also scored 14.500 in the parallel bars, 13.600 in the horizontal bar, and 14.333 in the floor exercise, for a total of 83.032.
Though he fell short of a medal in the all-around competition, these scores propelled him to a historic gold in the floor exercise final on Aug. 3. This victory marks a significant milestone for Philippine gymnastics and is only the second Olympic gold medal ever won by a Filipino competitor.
Then less than 24 hours later, Yulo earned another gold medal in the men's vault, beating Armenia's Artur Davtyan and Team GB's Harry Hepworth. Yulo did a high-difficulty vault, called Dragulescu, which is one of only two 6.0-valued vaults in the competition. He landed with precision and earned a 15.116 score.
One of his former coaches, Joel Panugalinog, said that he is proud of Yulo's achievement.
"I'm proud [of] his (Yulo) achievement. Every gymnast['s] dream [is] to be a champion. Caloy, a gifted child, learned very fast…. The kid listens, he is humble," he said in Cebuano.
Yulo, meanwhile, said after the competition: "I'm grateful for the people who truly believed in me through the ups and downs. This one is the sweetest, I think."
Yulo had not just won a medal; he'd ignited a fire in the hearts of millions. His journey is far from over as he prepares for his next competition in the vault. No matter the outcome, he has already left an indelible mark on Philippine sports history.