Yulo on the way to Olympics
Gymnastics wunderkind Caloy Yulo celebrated his debut in seniors competition with a bronze medal in vault at the Individual Apparatus World Cup in Melbourne last weekend and has become a serious contender in qualifying for a slot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Yulo turned 18 last Feb. 16 and is now qualified to compete at the senior level. The youthful gymnast wasn’t allowed to participate at the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur last year because he was underaged. According to Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president and POC Executive Board member Cynthia Carrion, Yulo would’ve captured seven gold medals at the SEA Games if he only competed. Without Yulo, the Philippines bagged two golds in 21 events with Reynald Capellan topping the floor and Kaitlin de Guzman ruling the uneven bars.
In Melbourne, Yulo got off to a slow start in the vault qualifications, finishing No. 5 with 14.066 points among 20 competitors. In the eight-man final, Yulo compiled 14.233 points to clinch third place behind Australia’s Christopher Remkes with 14.616 and Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chih Kai with 14.450. The other finalists were from Japan (two), Brazil, New Zealand and India.
Yulo also participated in the floor event. In the qualifications, he ranked No. 8 with 13.066 among 20. He went on to finish No. 7 in the eight-man final with 13.1 points. Japan’s Kazuyuki Takeda captured the gold with 13.9333 points. The competition brought in crack gymnasts from 16 countries and is a leg in the World Cup series that began in November 2016. Prize money of 5,000 Swiss Francs or the equivalent of P277,000 will be given to the circuit winners.
The qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will begin next year as Yulo attempts to become the first Filipino to participate in the Summer Games since Ernesto Beren and Norman Henson performed at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. If Yulo or Capellan or De Guzman makes it, the Philippines will be represented in gymnastics at the Olympics for the first time in 52 years. Aside from Beren and Henson, the only other Filipino gymnasts to compete in the Olympics were Demetrio Pastrana and Fortunato Payao at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Last September, Yulo took the gold in vault and silver in floor at the International Junior Gymnastics Championships in Yokohama to signal his arrival as a world-class competitor. He didn’t participate in four events to focus on vault and floor. Clearly, the strategy paid off.
Carrion described Yulo, a two-time Palarong Pambansa champion, as a proud homegrown product of grassroots development. He trains under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya and is totally dedicated to his sport.