A gymnast is added to the roster of Filipino athletes bringing glory and pride to the country! Know more about the Philippines’ first world champion for gymnastics — Carlos Yulo:
For the first time ever, the Philippine national anthem was played in the world gymnastics stage after Filipino teen gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo made a historic mark of winning the Philippines’ first ever world championship gold in gymnastics.
The 19-year-old trailblazer bagged a gold medal in the men’s floor exercise of the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships late Saturday, 12 October, in Stuttgart, Germany just a few days after claiming his ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Carlos was the second Filipino to secure a berth in the said Olympics after pole-vaulter EJ Obiena.
The young gymnast topped the competition with a score of 15.300, besting Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat (15.200) and China’s Ruoteng Xiao (14.933).
The shy kid turned celebrated teen gymnast’s name has been making rounds not only in the national newsstands but also beyond the Philippine shores because “Caloy”, as he is fondly called, is also the first Southeast Asian male gymnast to capture a gold in the world championships.
Over three years ago, young Caloy reluctantly left Manila to go to Tokyo and continue his intensive training under the tutelage of Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya, who he met when Gymnastic Association of Japan sent him to coach the Philippine team in a gesture of sporting goodwill. The coach saw Caloy’s potential and believed his new ward — who grew up watching national gymnasts at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex — needed better training conditions.