by Dennis Principe
2018 turned out to be a breakthrough year for gymnast star Carlos Yulo who bagged a historic bronze medal in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Apart from being the first-ever Southeast Asian gymnast to win a medal in the tough event, the Leveriza-born gymnast also brought home a pair of bronze medals from the World Cup Gymnastics in Melbourne, Australia and the 43rd Turnier Der Meister FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup in Germany then added a silver from the men’s vault of the Baku World Cup held in Azarbaijan.
Despite these achievements, Yulo would rather dwell on his failures to serve as motivation to do better in the the next two years, foremost of which is a chance to qualify in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“May mga competitions, like yung Asian Games, nagco-compete ako pero wala ako sa focus,” revealed Yulo. “Kaya nung December sinabi ko sa sarili ko na ayusin sarili ko para makapunta ng next level.”
“Yung mga hindi magandang nangyari last year, parang part na din ng training ko para lalo ako mag-improve,” added Yulo. “Ayoko kasi makuntento kasi kung makuntento ako whatever medal makuha ko, baka mag-stop ako sa paglalaro ng gymnastics.”
The 18-year-old Yulo failed to bring home a medal in last year’s Asian Games in Indonesia where he was touted as one of the country’s top bets.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion, while ecstatic about the potentials of Yulo as a multi-medal achiever of the sport, is also wary of her top gymnast’s needs in terms of surrounding himself with the right people.
“Caloy has been campaigning without basically a team. It’s just him and his Japanese coach so this year I will be providing him with a psychologist, a therapist and nutritionist even if it means me paying for these people,” disclosed Carrion.
Carrion is hopeful her association will get the needed help specifically Yulo who she said could win seven gold medals in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
Yulo left for Japan Saturday where he will jumpstart his 2019 campaign by training under well-known Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama.
“He stays there all the time and for this year, he will be preparing for his first international event this coming February in Melbourne (Australia),” said Carrion.
