Carlos Yulo won a historic gold medal for the Philippines and Southeast Asia, in the men's freestyle gymnastics event of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the evening of August 3.
Carlos Yulo scored 15,000 points, ahead of Tokyo 2020 champion Artem Dolgopya (Israel) with 14,966 points. The bronze medal went to Great Britain's Jake Jarman with 14,933 points.
Yulo executed a beautiful triple spin, the final stunt of the routine, to receive a near-perfect score. The Filipino athlete raised his arms and shouted in excitement, in front of the packed stands at the Bercy gymnasium.
Yulo became the second Filipino athlete to win an Olympic gold medal, after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who won the women's 55kg gold medal last time. It was Diaz who ended a gold medal drought that lasted more than a century at the Olympics. The country also won five silver medals and eight bronze medals.
Not only the Philippines, Carlos Yulo also helped Southeast Asia win its first medal at Paris 2024, after eight days of official competition, starting from the opening on July 26.
The Philippines became the 52nd team to win a medal at Paris 2024, and the 36th team to win a gold medal. The Philippines is currently ranked 31st in the overall standings, along with Argentina, Ecuador, Slovenia, Serbia and Uganda.
Carlos Yulo was born in 2000, one of four siblings, living in the capital Manila. He started practicing gymnastics at the age of seven and showed early talent. In 2016, Yulo accepted an offer from the Japan Olympic Association to train under a scholarship program. He moved to the land of the rising sun at Teikyo University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in literature.
In 2021, when the Olympics were held in Japan, Yulo was highly expected to win a medal but failed. He only finished fourth in the vault final, and stopped in the qualifying round of the remaining six events.
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