KINDLING the fire of passion and dedication, Emma Malabuyo shows that her perseverance has no bounds when it comes to proving herself worthy of being an Olympian.
Malabuyo does not shy away in showing her heart and passion for Gymnastics as she will be representing the Philippines in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
Claiming the Olympic berth in the 2024 Asian Gymnastics Championships, Malabuyo is set to be the fourth Filipino gymnast bound for Paris alongside Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan, and Levi Jung-Ruivivar.
Although raised on American soil, Malabuyo shows that her Filipino roots run deep with the guidance and support of her parents and grandparents while being surrounded by a strong Filipino community in California.
Start of an Olympic dream
A Filipino-American Gymnast, 21-year old Emma Malabuyo was born and raised in the United States to second generation immigrant parents, Joel and Ana Malabuyo.
Her competitive gymnastics career started, according to The Game, when she was eight years old.
But her passion for the sport started at a much younger age. It was from videos of girls doing flips which had made her realize her love for gymnastics.
In an archived ABS-CBN article, her parents shares: “When she was little maybe about two or three years old we noticed that she would do flips on the bed, she would crawl up on the walls in the doorways and she had a lot of energy—and then she would love to do the monkey bars at the playground,”
This interest in gymnastics is what has grown into years of dedication by Emma Malabuyo, proving herself on the mat that she deserves a spot in the Olympics.
First step as an Olympian
Awarded a bronze for individual all-around event with a 50.398 in the Asian Gymnastics Championships, reported by Olympics.com, sets Malabuyo’s pathway to the 2024 Paris Olympics in stone.
This was a comeback from Malabuyo’s FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series in Doha, Qatar back in April, earlier this year after losing by a hairline after failing to improve her point tally due to not qualifying for the women’s floor exercise in Doha.
The competition would have served as an Olympic qualifying event where the top two gymnasts with the highest points in total for each leg of the competition would have gotten the berth.
In an Instagram post, Malabuyo admits that she was afraid to go for the Olympic dream one last time but was more terrified of not trying at all.
Malabuyo’s resolve proves to not be shaken easily as she gave the all around for Asian Championships a shot for her final stretch in reaching for a spot in the Olympics.
“I have never fought for something so hard in my life. Went out there with passion, fight, resilience, and grit.” she states in the same instagram post.
Medals through the years
Malabuyo’s relationship with gymnastics runs deep and her sheer determination and dedication to the sport can be seen in her myriad of achievements in her career.
At the age of 13, Malabuyo showed great promise in competitive gymnastics, placing third in the all-around at the 2016 Gymnix International Junior Cup in Montreal, reported by flogymnastics.
In the following month, she finished second all-around in the junior division in the 2016 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy as stated in their results.
She maintained momentum in the following year with placing third all-around in the junior division at the 2017 City of Jesolo Trophy. Three months later, Flogymnastic reported that Malabuyo also took the all-around title in the junior competition of the U.S Classic .
After placing second in the 2017 P&G U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Emma Malabuyo was chosen to represent the US in the 2017 International Junior Competition in Japan where she placed second-all around.
Unfortunately, Malabuyo missed the 2018 and 2019 US Championships due to injury, a back injury in 2018 and a fractured left tibia in 2019.
In 2021, Malabuyo was assigned as an alternate for the United States’ competitors for gymnastics in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as stated in the US Olympic Trials. She was a replacement athlete should a main competitor from the Women’s Olympic team get injured.
She was able to bag a spot in the alternates after receiving fourth place in the US National Gymnastics Championships with a total score of 110.450, then proceeding to get the ninth place in 2021 US Olympic Trials with a combined total of 110.532.
Yet, this was not yet Malabuyo’s time in the Olympics as she was not able to perform on the mat in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Now that she’s no longer an alternate and an official competing athlete the spotlight is on her to show Paris and the world what she’s made of.
Olympic dream within reach
Albeit, losing by a hairline after coming in third in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series, Emma Malabuyo showed that the fire within her is not yet ready to be extinguished.
It is up to her to keep this flame burning until the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, will this flame be enveloped by other competitive gymnasts who are as hungry to win an olympic medal?
Set to start with the men’s and women’s qualification on July 27 and 28 respectively, the event will take place in Bercy Arena. The competition will officially start on July 29 and will end on the 5th of August.
With reports from Catherine Jules C. Juvida
