Carlos Yulo totaled 15.116 in two vaults to win a second gold medal in Paris. —YULO PHOTOS BY AFP
There is no doubt that 2024 was the biggest year ever in Philippine sports, with Carlos Yulo highlighting it by winning two gold medals in a single Summer Olympics.
There is also no doubt that during these Games in Paris, the Philippines was also the biggest laughing stock because of an unfortunate and easily avoided snafu that made its national golfers stand out for all the wrong reasons.
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Yulo won the gold medals in the men’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise before following up with a victory on vault for a double kill that sparked an archipelago-wide celebration in a country eager to see heroes wherever he could find them.
From President Marcos to simple Juan dela Cruz, Yulo has received praise. And from everyone in the Philippines, especially its netizens, a national sports association has been criticized in every way possible for gambling its Olympics bets without their uniforms and equipment marked with the PH flag .
But before and after these events, many other great achievements took place.
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Alas and Gilas
Alas, Pilipinas has endeared itself to this country which suddenly fell in love with women’s volleyball; Gilas Pilipinas turned heads in Latvia during the Olympic qualifying tournament and declared themselves part of it, just to name two.
Yuka Saso, a Philippine-born LPGA passport-holding phenom, won her second US Women’s Open last June, before Rianne Malixi ruled the US Women’s Amateur and US Junior Girls against the American Asterisk Talley to become just the second player to hold both titles in the same year.
This would have been a true banner year for golf, until the ruckus happened in Paris.
However, 2024 will be dedicated to the Olympic Games. Thanks to Yulo’s feat, the entire country will now see the Games as a time where Filipinos can excel. Gone are the days when every time a delegation was sent there, it was considered a token participation.
And Yulo will once again lead the way during the next edition which will take place in Los Angeles in 2028.
Yulo wins his first gold medal while celebrating his victory in the men’s floor exercise at Bercy Arena, even as golfer Dottie Ardina (pictured below) shows in this Instagram collage the process she followed to paste the PH flag on his playing jersey before each round.
“Definitely. I’ll be there 100 percent,” Yulo said, when asked if he would be willing to do it again to try and repeat the act. “Four years. It’s still a long way. I just hope I’m healthy and injury free.
The fame, the overwhelming welcome from a grateful nation, and a guaranteed place in the pantheon of Filipino sports heroes as well as the riches these victories have brought, Yulo will not tire of going through all the hardships for it all once again .
The 24-year-old dynamo and pride of Leveriza in Manila received a hero’s welcome from an adoring country and was showered with financial gifts from the government and private sector – estimated to amount to over 100 million pesos – for all his hard work. and separation from family to pursue training abroad.
Yulo was expected to be a gold medalist as early as 2020 in Tokyo, where weightlifting celebrity Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo was the one to break the deadlock by winning an Olympic gold medal for the first time for a victory that ended nearly a century of wait for the Philippines. during the quadrennial meeting.
Even though she failed to make it to Paris and extend her participation in the Olympics five times, Diaz-Naranjo’s hunger remains as she eyes a return to the global sporting spectacle in four years.
For Yulo, however, doing it once more, or perhaps more, is a no-brainer – and the entire country believes it, with the new sporting hero still at the peak of his physical abilities.
Boxers and their bronzes
Two more Filipino boxer bets stood out in the glamorous French capital, with Nesthy Petecio winning a bronze medal one edition after claiming a silver in Tokyo in the women’s featherweight division, thus etching her legacy in stone.
Then there’s Aira Villegas, who also won a bronze medal in the women’s light flyweight division in her first trip to the Olympic oval.
Marked by Yulo’s golden performance, these achievements surpassed Tokyo’s version of Diaz-Naranjo’s gold, the silver pair that boxers Carlo Paalam and Petecio won and the bronze medal of professional boxer Eumir Marcial.
With 22 Filipino athletes in nine sports, Paris 2024 did not end without a hitch for Team Philippines, especially after Dottie Ardina took to social media to express her disgust at having to stick the PH flag on her chest before each round of women’s golf. tournament at the Golf Nacional.
“Sana are all in uniform,” Ardina said in a social media post that immediately went viral, especially after she and Bianca Pagdanganan were the only ones who could win gold for the Philippines in the final days of the Games .
“There are 22 athletes from the Philippines and we (with Pagdanganan) are the only ones without (a uniform),” Ardina continued in Filipino. “We had to buy T-shirts. My God, what kind of Olympics (participation) is this?
Best finish in golf
Dottie Ardina
This controversy erupted well after the Olympics, when even ordinary sports fans with little golf knowledge demanded heads roll in the National Golf Association of the Philippines. Even the Senate stepped in and investigated the snafu, which significantly hurt Pagdanganan’s joint fourth place and Ardina’s 13th place finish.
“In addition to not having the proper uniforms, we did not have golf balls, head covers, gloves or a golf umbrella. They only provided us with golf bags and shoes,” lamented Ardina, who chose to break his silence for the sake of the upcoming Filipino Olympians.
Long-hitting Pagdanganan ended up winning the honor of top-ranked Filipina in women’s golf after tying with Australia’s Hannah Green, Korea’s Amy Yang and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita. She beat ninth-place finisher Yuka Saso, then still playing as a Filipino, at Tokyo 2020.
And coupled with Ardina tying for 13th despite playing with a heavy heart, the duo became the first Filipino pair to finish in the top 15 in women’s Olympic golf, despite the controversy.
And like Yulo, Ardina said she would happily don the PH uniform again, a proper uniform, if asked to do it again.
“I would do it again, with all my heart,” she told the Inquirer in an exclusive interview upon her return from Paris. “Since the first day of my junior years, I am very proud to represent the Philippines. I will do it until the end of my career.
Yulo, meanwhile, would face controversy before he even got home, as social media feasted on his issues with his mother.
I don’t like Chloe
The dispute between mother and son began with Carlos’ alleged mishandling of incentives at past international competitions, before the gymnast’s mother, Angelica, apparently had no affection for her son’s girlfriend, Chloe.
Carlos has since urged his mother to move past the controversy and “move on” as the family faced public scrutiny.
“My message to you is to move on. I forgave you a long time ago,” Carlos said in Filipino in a TikTok video. “I also pray that you are always safe and always in the right place.”
He also pledged to stick it out with Chloe, saying, “Let’s stop all this and celebrate the hardships and sacrifices of every Filipino athlete here in Paris.”
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According to Carlos Yulo, PH Sports will create another record year.
