WHILE Paris simmered in summer, tiny Filipino twister Carlos Edriel Yulo took the French capital by storm in historic fashion to commemorate the country’s centennial celebration of participation in the modern Olympic Games.
Standing head and shoulders above the 22-member Philippine contingent, the 4-foot-11 Yulo delivered back-to-back-gold medals in the floor exercise and vault events of the men’s artistic gymnastics to complete a rare and remarkable golden double at the Bercy Arena.
Competing in his second Olympics, the 24-year-old, who calls Leveriza, Manila home, doubled the output of weightlifter Hidylin Diaz-Naranjo, who achieved the Philippines’ golden breakthrough by hoisting the gold in the women’s 55kg division at the Tokyo Summer Games in record-breaking fashion in 2021.
That Yulo did it saddled not only by the memories of his failures in the Japanese capital three years ago but also by personal issues back home involving his mother before leaving for the Games made his accomplishments even more outstanding — a testament to his character and grit on top of his consummate skill and talent.
Unless someone exceeds him in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Yulo could arguably go down as the country’s GOAT — the Greatest Olympian of All Time.
Thanks to his fantastic exploits, the country achieved an all-time high of 35th overall in the medal standings of the Paris Games, counting the bronze medals won by boxers Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio, tied with Hong Kong with two golds and two bronze medals each.
This surpassed the 50th place the Philippines achieved in the Tokyo edition with one gold, two silvers — one each from boxers Carlos Paalam and Petecio — and a bronze from fellow fighter Eumir Felix Marcial.
The Philippines also finished in the top 10 among Asian nations, winding up eighth behind overall champion China (39-27-34), No. 3 Australia (18-18-14), No. 4 Japan (18-12-13), No. 7 South Korea (13-8-9), No. 13 Uzbekistan (8-2-3), No. 22 Iran (3-5-2) and No. 33 Chinese-Taipei (2-0-5).
The country was also the medal topnotcher among Southeast Asian countries ahead of Indonesia, which was at No. 37 (2-1-0), No. 42 Thailand (1-3-2), Malaysia (0-0-2) and Singapore (0-0-1).
Under Republic Act 10699, Yulo, who served as the co-flag bearer with Villegas in the closing ceremony yesterday, is guaranteed P20 million, P10 million for each Olympic gold medal, plus the PH Medal of Valor. He is set to be given a hero’s welcome when he arrives in Manila on Tuesday.
The MVP Sports Foundation will match that amount for another P20 million while the House of Representatives has committed P6 million for his golden double.
Arena Plus, which Yulo endorses, added P5 million to the pot while Chooks to Go and property and developer giant Megaworld pledged an additional P3 million each.
Megaworld also upgraded its reward to a three-bedroom, fully furnished condominium unit at McKinley Hill valued at P32 million. At the same time, the gymnast will also receive lifetime vouchers from food establishments Vikings and Tipsy Pig, among others.
Philippine Olympic Committee president and Tagaytay Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino will also award the pint-sized star with a house and lot in Tagaytay, just like he did to the Tokyo Olympic medalists in 2021.
Petecio, who won a silver medal in the Tokyo Games and Villegas, are guaranteed P2 million each and could expect some more from the private sector after a second straight successful Olympic boxing campaign.
There were some Olympic disappointments, of course.
Among them was pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, who fell a jump short of a podium finish at the Stade de France, revealing later that he had been dealing with spine and back issues that needed surgery so close to competing in his pet event.
Petecio and Paalam also fell short in their bid to win the boxing gold, the same fate suffered by Marcial, who was compelled to fight in a heavier weight division that was not his strong suit.
There were other flies in the ointment, like golfer Dottie Ardina venting on a video that went viral that she and national teammate Bianca Pagdanganan did not have competition uniforms while weightlifter Vanessa Sarno complained of the “toxic environment” after bombing out in the women’s -71kg class in her Olympic debut.
Back home, Yulo’s historic achievements threatened to be eclipsed by the public row involving his mother Angelica, who swallowed her pride and asked for his son’s forgiveness while leaving the door open for reconciliation.
Weightlifting chief Monico Puentevella vowed to resolve Sarno’s issues when they get home, aptly saying: “For now, what Caloy did was amazing, and the country deserves to celebrate that.”
