SHOWING remarkable resiliency after flopping in the men’s floor exercise, Olympic-bound gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo bagged a gold and silver in the parallel bars and vault, respectively, last Saturday night at the close of the FIG World Cup Series at the Aspire Women’s Hall in Doha, Qatar.
A former world floor exercise champion, Yulo, who failed to qualify in his pet event after finishing 21st in the qualifiers, scored 15.200 points to secure the mint in the parallel bars and had 15.066 points to place second in the vault won by Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (15.166).
The pint-sized Pinoy’s accomplishment came a day after Filipino-American teener Levi Ruivivar Jr. secured a spot in the Paris Olympic Games by bagging the silver medal in the women’s uneven bars with a tally of 13.663 points.
Entering the fourth and final leg of the FIG World Cup in the Qatari capital in fifth place overall, Ruivivar, 17, bagged an Olympic ticket by placing second overall in the apparatus across the four legs of the series with 62 points behind topnotcher Georgia-Rose Brown of New Zealand (70).
Based on the International Gymnastics Federation Olympic qualifying process, the top two finishers in each apparatus in the FIG World Cup series will qualify for that event in the Paris Olympics.
Ruivivar, whose actor-father Anthony was born in Hawaii, will be join Yulo and Aleah Finnegan as the country’s representatives in the artistic gymnastics event in Paris, the first time the Philippine will have more than one athlete in the dynamic and demanding sport outside of Yulo.
Narrowly missing the grade was Emma Malabuyo, who had been eyeing a ticket in the women’s floor exercise but failed to reach the finals of the event after finishing 10th in the qualifying competition.
Running second overall entering the Doha meet, Malabuyo finished third overall in the event with 69 points after being overtaken by Spain’s Laura Casabuena, who wound up as the No. 2 qualifier with 75 points after a bronze medal finish in the competition.
