STRENGTHENING his mental outlook is one of the acute lessons that Caloy Yulo learned in the just-concluded 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship as he continues his build-up for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“‘Yung mental aspect po talaga. Palagi ko pong sinasabi na sarili ko po ‘yung kalaban ko at hindi iyong mga ibang gymnasts,” Yulo said during an online press briefing yesterday morning hours after ending his stint at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.
The tiny Filipino twister wound up his campaign with a silver in the men’s vault and a bronze in the parallel bars. Last year, he had a gold-silver finish in the same events in Kitakyushu, Japan.
“Masasabi ko na natalo po ako sa sarili ko,” Yulo said of his performance against the world’s best beginning with the men’s all-around final last Friday.
“Mas mapapagod ka talaga kung mentally drained ka kaysa sa physical po. May tendency ako to look at the negative at hindi ‘yung mga positive na nagagawa ko,” he added.
Gymnastic head Cynthia Carrion said Yulo now has sports psychologist Dr. Marissa Guinto to help him build his mental conditioning.
“The sports psychologist does regular online sessions with Caloy and I am regularly given reports on his mental well-being. It appears to be all good,” said Carrion, proud of what Yulo achieved in his fourth straight appearance in the world meet.
Testing his mettle against the likes of Tokyo Olympic men’s all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto and former world men’s all-around Zhang Boheng and world vault champion Zou Jingyuan proved to be an eye-opening experience for Yulo.
“Siyempre, napasama po ako sa first group. First time na maka-grupo ‘yung magagaling talaga. Iba po sila talaga, gusto ko pong maging katulad nila. Tinitingala ‘yung mga ganung gymnasts at ini-idolo po,” he said.
Carrion said the lessons Yulo learned from the world meet would help him in his bid to qualify and excel in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
“Everybody who has seen him perform has told me that the process is going very, very well. He is only going to get better and better and Caloy himself wants to improve more and more,” Carrion said. “We are doing everything moving forward and the aim for him is win medals in the Paris Olympics.”
