Filipino athlete Carlos Edriel Yulo has joined the pantheon of the greatest Olympians ever, after securing two gold medals in Paris.
Online reports started flooding in by Sunday night (Manila time), after Yulo overhauled Philippine sports history with a second Olympic gold in Paris, ruling the men’s gymnastics vault finals at Bercy Arena.
Following his floor exercise win on Saturday, Yulo became the first Filipino male athlete to win multiple golds in the Olympics, in a single year, making a strong case that he is the greatest Filipino Olympian ever.
There is no more question that Yulo is the greatest Filipino athlete in Olympic history, but his two gold medal wins in Paris put him in the company of the greatest, including US swimmer Michael Phelps, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, Russia’s Larisa Latynina and US tennis player Serena Williams, among others.
Although these athletes have won considerably more golds than Yulo, the Filipino athlete’s history-making, and record-breaking feat in Paris will surely stay for a very long time.
So is Yulo the greatest Filipino Olympian ever? The answer is a resounding “Yes.”
Men’s vault win for Yulo
Yulo’s first try set the tone for the rest of the final round as his near-perfect routine garnered him 15.433 points, the highest single-vault attempt score for the night.
After tallying a 14.8 in his second vault, he finished with a total 15.116, enough to deny Great Britain a 1-2 finish.
Armenian Artur Davtyan, the last to perform, scored two consistent runs for a 14.966 average to overtake the British duo of Harry Hepworth and Jake Jarman and take the silver.
Hepworth, who scored the best second attempt with 15.066 points, ended up with the bronze at 14.949.
Jarman, the half-Filipino gymnast who was bronze medalist in the floor finals, dropped to fourth at 14.933.
A 0.1-point deduction in his first attempt eventually denied Jarman another podium finish.
Petecio assured of medal
Yulo’s vault win gave the Philippines its fourth medal in the Paris Olympics, barely an hour after boxer Nesthy Petecio secured at least a bronze.
Petecio dominated Chinese Xu Zichun in the quarterfinals of the women’s 57-kilogram at Paris North Arena in Villepinte, France.
She put on a virtual clinic with her punching accuracy and brilliant head movement to frustrate Xu, who struggled to connect on her shots.
Three judges, Holger Kussmaul, Yermek Suiyenish and Wade Peterson, scored the bout 30-27, while Jakov Peterson and Cho Jung-Sook had it 29-28, all for the Davao del Sur native, who will become the only Filipino female athlete to have multiple Olympic medals.
The 2021 Tokyo silver medalist will try to upgrade to another silver when she takes on Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the semifinals at Roland Garros Stadium early Thursday (PH time).
Szeremeta scored a similar unanimous decision win against Puerto Rico’s Ashleyann Lozada.
The four-medal count as of Sunday, the other from virtual bronze medalist Aira Villegas (women’s boxing 50kg), matched the total number of medals the Filipinos hauled in Tokyo.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, the country’s first gold medalist in Tokyo, immediately posted a message for Yulo.
“Congratulations ulit, Caloy! Ang galing! Ipinagmamalaki kita hindi lang sa mga medalya mo kundi dahil sa hirap na pinagdaanan mo para makamit ang tagumpay, para sa sarili at higit pang lalo, para sa bayan (Congratulations again, Caloy. It was great! I am proud of you, not just of your medals, but of all the hardships you went through to achieve this success for your self and most of all, for the country),” Diaz wrote on Facebook.
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Source: PNA. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1230451
Screenshots: One Sports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOeSQ9NOsOw
