Pole vaulter EJ Obiena now has a company.
Caloy Yulo became the second Filipino qualifier to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after advancing to the men’s floor exercise and all-around finals of the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Monday (early Tuesday in Manila) in Stuttgart, Germany.
Boosted by identical scores of 14.333 in the vault and parallel bars, Yulo, who stands only at 4-foot-11, finished 18th overall out of 160 entries to make the cut of 24 gymnasts in the all-around finals on Friday at the ultra-modern, 15,000-seat arena in the home of both Porsche and Merdes Benz.
His feat earned for himself a piece of history as he became the first Filipino gymnast to compete in the Olympics.
In his pet event – floor exercise – the 19-year-old sensation finished seventh in the floor exercise with 14.633points.
Israeli Artem Dolgopyat topped the prelims with 15.033 followed by Lin Chaopan of China (14.933) and Nikita Nagornny of Russia (14.900).
These four top qualifiers have various titles tucked under their belts with Dolgopyat winning the silver in the 2017 edition, Lin a many-time champion in world meets and Nagornny a proud silver medal in the Rio Games.
Yulo got the Olympic allocation based from his all-around performance after other athletes have earned berths in the team event.
Yulo’s qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics was confirmed in an official press notice issued by the International Gymnastics Federation, known by its French acronym FIG, which was received by Gymnastics Association of the Philippines secretary general Bettina Pou back in Manila. “Yes, Caloy (Yulo’s nickname) has already qualified in the all-around because he has moved up as No. 1 in the individual rankings since China, Russia and Japan have already qualified their athletes after their 1-2-3 finish, respectively, at last year’s worlds held in Doha, Qatar,” noted Pou.
“This is wonderful for Philippine gymnastics and for Caloy. It is an honor for GAP to have the second qualifier to the Olympics,” noted GAP president Cynthia Carrion, who took the athlete way back in 2009 as a GAP protégé.
“Hopefully he will continue to do well and win a medal in both the all-around and floor exercise. And we urge our countrymen back home to pray for his success here.”
Leading the all-around qualifiers are Nagornny (87.333), reigning world champion Artur Dalaloyan of Russia (86.531) and multiple world champion Xiao Ruoteng of China (85.531).
Only the Top 8 athletes in each apparatus and top 24 in the all-around made it to the final round.
Last year, Yulo became the first Filipino and male Southeast Asian to win a medal in the world championships after bagging bronze in the floor exercise. He has been training extensively in Japan for the last two years under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya.
Last February, he bagged the floor exercise gold in the first leg of the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Melbourne, Australia and finished bronze in the second leg of the event in Doha, Qatar.
Others who qualified are Cuba’s Manrique Larduet, Italy’s Ludovico Edalli, Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi, Frances, Loris Frasca, Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogal, Israel’s Alexander Shatilov, Turkey’s Ferhat Arican, Armenia’s Artur Davtyan, Bulgaria’s David Huddleston, Netherlands’ Bart Deurloo and Mexico’s Daniel Corral.
The amiable Obiena clinched an Olympic berth during a tournament in Italy last month where is currently training.
