YULO’S EYES ON PARIS ’24

HAnoi—carlos Edriel Yulo flew back to Tokyo on Tuesday after scooping five gold medals in men’s gymnastics with relative ease—proof that the bashful young man from Leveriza is indeed now a worldclass act.

But while doing his routines in all of gymnastics’ apparatus with a flourish, Yulo had one thing set in his mind: Paris 2024 Olympics.

“It’s really the Olympics that matters, so I treated this Southeast Asian Games like I was competing in the Olympics,” said Yulo, whose Olympic debut in Tokyo—despite him missing the podium—made him a more matured and focused gymnast no longer scared of the glaring lights of the global sports stage.

“I’ve never underestimated the SEA Games, my training and approach in these Games are always on the same level as the Olympics,” he said.

Yulo’s an imminent runaway winner of the best male athlete of the SEA Games after collecting five gold medals in his sport—men’s all around, floor exercise, rings, vault and horizontal bars he ruled in a tie with Vietnam’s Ding Phuong Thanh. He was the men’s floor exercise world champion in 2019 and is the reigning king of the vault, having won gold in the worlds in Japan last year.

He also settled for two silvers in men’s team and parallel bar.

Yulo said that he’s happy to see teammates Aleah Finnegan Cruz win the women’s vault and her teammates bag the women’s team title.

“It’s my first time to feel something like this, I’m very glad that my fellow Filipino gymnasts are also winning gold,” said Yulo, as he thanked Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez and Gymnastics Association of the Philippines head Cynthia Carrion-norton.

Yulo also extended his gratitude to his long-time Japanese Coach Munehiro Kugimiya and therapist Jumpei Kunno. Next up for them is the Asian Championships set from June 15 to 18 in Doha, Qatar.

“Training is a must because the Asian championships are a qualifying competition for the world championships,” he said.

The world championships— set October 29 to November 6 in Liverpool, England—are also the qualifiers for the Paris Games.

Kugimiya said the ultimate prize will always be winning an Olympic gold medal.

“We’re always aiming for an Olympic gold medal,” Kugimiya said.

Carrion-norton, meanwhile, was the most elated of the group as she described Yulo’s performance as “a show of a lifetime” in the SEA Games, adding her wards medals haul surpassed the two gold and five silver medal he won in the Philippines 2019 Games.

Yulo is expected to collect P1.8 million in cash incentives from the government through the PSC.

“The bonuses I’ll get here will be part of my savings, for my future,” he said. “I will invest it properly.”