Great things do come in small packages. And Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo proved that in Paris on Saturday, winning the Philippines’ second Olympic gold and the first for gymnastics.
It took three years since missing a podium finish in the Tokyo Olympics and a coaching change for Yulo to win the gold medal in the men’s artistic floor exercise—an event where he won the gold in the 2019 World Championships.
Yulo scored a 15.000 for his floor routine at the competitions held at the Bercy Arena—the highest during the event and was just enough to edge out the reigning Olympic champion and 2023 World Champion in floor exercise Artem Dolgopyat of Israel who scored a 14.966.
It was a tense wait for Yulo and the millions of Filipinos across the globe as several more gymnasts took to the floor to try and top his score. But redemption for Yulo appeared to be written in the stars.
Yulo will have a chance to win a second Olympic gold for the country as he competes on Sunday in the vault, an event where he won the gold in the 2021 World Championships.
Dolgopyat settled for silver while Jake Jarman of the United Kingdom, whose mother is reportedly a Filipina, scored 14.933 and settled for bronze after topping qualification round.
Yulo’s golden triumph follows the historic victory in Tokyo of Hidilyn Diaz, the Filipina weightlifter who ended the Philippines’ near-century-long quest for gold. Diaz failed to qualify in the Paris Games, with her 55-kilogram weight class scratched off the Olympics competition list.
