Gymnast Carlos Yulo projected to bring home gold or silver

CARLOS Yulo, the Philippines’ winningest gymnast and one of the top bets, is projected to get a gold or silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to a well-known gymnastics publication.

Photo Courtesy: Olympics

The 24-year-old gymnast was chosen by the International Gymnast (IG) Media as the gymnast who will win gold in the floor exercise, his primary exercise, ahead of defending champion Artem Dolgopyat (Israel) and Luke Whitehouse (Great Britain).

“If Carlos Yulo of the Philippines manages to be consistent, he could easily top the field on floor,” said the medal prediction article on IG’s website.

Yulo is projected to win another medal—this time, a silver—in the vault exercise. Armenia’s Artur Davytan was chosen by IG over Yulo.

“Adem Asil of Turkey, Carlos Yulo of the Philippines and Wataru Tanigawa all can perform Ri Il vaults (front handspring front double piked with a half twist), and a strong landing on this vault can propel them straight to the podium.”

Despite being picked second, Yulo must not be overlooked as he is predicted to pull off a surprise during this drill. In addition, he was a world vault champion in 2021. 

Yulo was not on IG’s parallel bars podium. However, they are leaving the door open and saying that the Philippine bet should not be overlooked.

“Carlos Yulo (PHI), Oleg Verniaiev (UKR), Hashimoto Daiki (JPN), Xiao Ruoteng (CHN), Zhang Boheng (CHN) and Angel Barajas of Colombia have a strong final potential,” IG added.

A Carlos Yulo year?

Yulo arrived in Japan for the Tokyo Olympics three years ago after winning a historic gold medal in the floor exercise of the 2019 World Championships in Germany, but he returned home empty handed. 

The small but terrible gymnast had many ups and downs following that year. Recently, he went on a rampage, winning three gold medals at the 2024 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. 

Yulo won gold medals in two events: floor exercise and vault exercise. Indeed, he is a force to be reckoned with in the gymnastics division.

The Olympics, on the other hand, is a different playing field, with outstanding athletes from all over the world. For Yulo, victory at the Paris Olympics is like “shooting for the stars.”

“Siyempre gusto ko pong maka-gold. Right now, ‘yung focus po talaga na makapag-produce po ako ng high quality na performance sa mga malalakas kong event po,” he said.

The Manila native faces a daunting assignment at the Paris Games but he is eager to shoot for the stars and bring glory and pride to his country. 

“Hindi ko na-enjoy yung last Olympics ko. Super overwhelmed po sa lahat ng pangyayari. Pero ngayon po super grateful po ako na naranasan ko yung sa Tokyo and meron po akong baon ngayon,” he said.

Yulo is expected to rebound from his Tokyo Olympics performance and carry the entire Filipino community on his back starting tomorrow, July 27, with the all-around qualifiers at 9:30 p.m.