Why Carlos Yulo's Paris Olympics win is significant to PH history
More than winning two Olympic golds, Carlos Yulo’s win in the Paris games made a significant contribution to Philippine history, according to Professor Xiao Chua.
In the latest episode of his YouTube series “Ask Xiao,” the historian detailed how Yulo’s win is more important to history by tracing it back to the Treaty of Paris in 1898.
In the said negotiation, the United States paid $20 million (P1.1 billion today) to Spain to have a legal occupation of the Philippines.
“Our first diplomats who brought our flag there were not permitted to go inside those negotiations. So it was about us, but they did not include us,” Chua shared.
The fact that the Philippines won gold twice and had the national anthem played in the same place where it was sold to the US made the victory more meaningful.
"It's like ibinawi natin ‘yung ating unang republika sa pagkapanalo natin sa Paris,” he added.
“First of all, let me tell you that because we don’t always win gold medals, this is a big thing,” Chua said, adding a quote from fellow historian Ian Alfonso: "We were being honored because of our victory there."
Chua then thanked Yulo for getting the country recognized in the city that “didn’t acknowledge the independence of the Filipino more than 100 years ago.”
Spain occupied the Philippines for 333 years and ended its rule when the Treaty of Paris was signed.
The 24-year-old Yulo won two gold medals at the men's floor exercise finals and men's vault finals, making history as the first Filipino to bag a gold medal in gymnastics.
He is also the second Filipino athlete to ever win a gold medal at the Olympics after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.