BY RON DELOS REYES
It’s been months since Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo, a Toyota Global Start Your Impossible partner, has settled in the country after his historic victories in Paris but Carlos’ name always rings a bell as he is a shoo-in for Athlete of the Year awardee in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards next month.
We interviewed Carlos during his and Toyota’s gymnastics clinic at the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines- MVPSP Gym in Intramuros, Manila recently.
He revealed to us that originally, he wanted to buy a Toyota Raize, a subcompact SUV, from his cash incentives but fate had other plans. Toyota Motor Philippines gave him a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. The soft-spoken Carlos was extremely grateful for the gift.
“It was a huge blessing,” he said.
Carlos said he has driven the Prado to some towns in Laguna as well as in Alabang, Muntinlupa City and other places in Metro Manila. He drove it to Intramuros during the two-day clinic which was attended by boys and girls aged 6- 12 years old from different parts of the country. He said he enoy driving the SUV, the first vehicle he ever drove.
Carlos also used the Next Generation Tamaraw mobile food service to distribute lunch packs to the clinic participants.
We find similarities to Carlos and Tokyo Olympics 2021 gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz’ ascent to the top of their sports disciplines. The words are perseverance and dedication to training.
Carlos said it was not easy for him to excel in gymnastics but since he had passion for the sport persevered and the hard work paid off. “There are days medyo wala ako gana mag training pero pinipilit ko sarili ko pumunta sa gym,” he confided. (Even if I don’t feel like training, I force myself to go to the gym.)
I personally witnessed Carlos’ personal setback in 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. He was predicted to win a medal in floor exercise or vault but he had an erratic performance.
The heartbreaking stints were repeated in Tokyo Olympics 2021 despite a string of good performances in World Championships. He focused on qualifying for Paris and made it with a double gold.
Hidilyn Diaz is also a good example of a ‘never say die spirit.’ Her stints in weightlifting in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Oympiads were sub par. But she came back strong in 2016 winning a silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. It was the country’s first medal since Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco, Jr. won his silver in boxing in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asiad, Hidilyn won the country gold in the 55-kg division. While most people went to watch the RP Gilas-China basketball game, we were only a handful to witness Hidilyn’s gold medal performance in her division. We were very proud as the Philippine flag was being raised and our national anthem was being played then.
Interestingly, Hidilyn was a recipient of vehicles from Foton Motor with a 13-seater Transvan and a Kia Stonic from AC Motors. She has since bought a Mazda CX-9 and goes on camping and sports missions with husband coach Julius Naranjo in a Mazda BT-50 4×4 pickup. After joining the Mazda camp in Lake Tabeyo in the Mountain Province in February 2023, the couple drove to a remote town in the Cordilleras to bring some weightlifting equipment to a school.
Onyok, meantime, was rewarded with cars from Nissan Motor Philippines and Universal Motor Corporation after his silver medal feat in Atlanta. He had a Nissan Sentra and a Nissan Terrano which he used for many years.
The 24-year old Carlos intends to join the qualifying competitions in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. He would only be 28 by then. He will be back in training next year to get back in his top condition and inspire more young people to excel in gymnastics but in other sport as well. Meantime, Toyota and Carlos Yulo made a big impact on the young gymnasts who joined the clinic last November. Imagine being given valuable pointers by Carlos and his coach Adrian Castaneda.
It’s good to back writing for Malaya Business Insight after an absence of three years. This columnist actually missed contributing to the paper’s Motoring Section. Expect us to share more ‘Good Drives’ in this corner in the coming weeks. Thank you, Malaya Business Insight.
TMP president Masando Hashimoto congratulated the young gymnasts.
“To our young gymnasts here today, our future champions and medalists, congratulations for completing the TOYOTA START YOUR IMPOSSIBLE GYMNASTICS CAMP. You learned from no other than the Philippines’ best gymnast! We hope you remember this experience always!”
Ysa, one of the trainees, said “We learned so much from Carlos, and this will be helpful for us when we have competitions coming up.”
Editor’s Note: Malaya Business Insight welcomes back the “Good Drive” of Ron de los Reyes. Published since 2010, the Good Drive downshifted during the pandemic. We are glad to have you back Sir Ron!
