Carlos Yulo of the Philippines bites his gold medal during the Medal Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yulo topped the men’s floor exercise to win the country’s only second gold in the quadrennial meet. | : Olympics
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Carlos Yulo, the diminutive Filipino gymnast became an instant giant on the global stage when he captured the country’s first gold medal in the Paris Olympics on Saturday night.
Yulo, 24, delivered a powerful and gritty performance in the men’s floor exercise to score 15.00 points good for the gold.
And for the first time in these Games held in the fashion capital of the world, the Philippine national anthem was played. And not a few in the packed Bercy Arena and the millions glued to their TVs and laptops all over the world were teary eyed when the Lupang Hinirang was played.
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But Carlos Yulo never shed a tear. Perhaps the enormity of the moment and the impact and gravity of his achievement hadn’t sunk in yet. During the medal ceremony, he gamely sang the National Anthem with his right hand placed on his chest. The glittering gold medal hanging from his neck. Pride was all over the face of the country’s top gymnast who at 4 feet, 10 inches tall was the shortest among the eight floor exercise finalists.
But on Saturday night, no one stood taller than Yulo.
On Sunday, Yulo will gun for a rare golden double when he sees action in the final of the men’s vault which is also one of his strongest events.
Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, who topped the floor exercise in Tokyo three years ago, settled for the silver medal in the face of Yulo’s powerful and flawless performance.
Great Britain’s Jake Jarman, whose mother hails from Cebu, grabbed the bronze medal ahead of Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun.
Yulo is only the second Filipino to ever win Olympic gold. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz was the first Olympic champion from the Philippines and she did it in Tokyo.
Ariane Cerdeña won gold in women’s singles bowling in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea but bowling was just a demonstration sport back then.
Aside from Carlos Yulo’s vault finals on Sunday, the Philippines is also banking on medal hopefuls from boxing and weightlifting as well as EJ Obiena in men’s pole vault.