Yulo lands bronze in Worlds; Olympics 2020 next?

MANILA, Philippines — Over 10 years ago, a little boy from Leveriza Street in the border of Manila and Pasay was brought by his grandfather to Rizal Memorial to find out if he could train in gymnastics because of his love for tumbling. The kid was a “walk-on” and wasn’t scouted. But since the door was open for tryouts, Caloy Yulo got the chance to show his stuff and his potential was indisputable.

Yulo trained hard and was determined to excel. Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion put him to the test and Yulo impressed with gold medals at the Batang Pinoy, Palarong Pambansa and PNG.  After turning 18 last February, Yulo competed in three legs of the FIG World Cup series and bagged the bronze in vault in Melbourne, silver in vault in Baku and silver in floor in Doha. But in the Asian Games last September, Yulo failed to snatch a medal with fourth place his highest finish in vault.

Carrion kept her faith in Yulo who vowed to make up for his Asian Games meltdown at the just-concluded World Championships in Doha. Yulo made good on his promise as he became the first Filipino ever to qualify for the finals of the 24-man all-around and 8-man floor events. Last Wednesday, Yulo finished 23rd of 24 in the all-around final, taking a tumble in the rings. In the floor final last Friday, he was spectacular and landed a podium finish – another first in the history of Philippine gymnastics – with a bronze medal.

Carrion said Yulo was the talk of the competition. “It was a different Caloy in Doha from Jakarta,” she said. “Caloy was fourth in the floor qualifiers but went up to third in the final. In the all-around, Caloy wasn’t at his best. When he fell from the rings, people were asking if Caloy was sick. They didn’t expect that kind of showing. Caloy was 12th in the qualifying but we knew it would be extremely difficult to finish first, second or third in the all-around. So we focused on the floor exercise. Caloy put on a wonderful performance and even our Ambassador to Qatar Alan Timbayan, who came to watch, was amazed. He cleaned up his act from Jakarta and it paid off.”

Yulo said he made mental mistakes at the Asian Games and with coach Munehiro Kugimiya’s guidance, polished his routine for Doha. “I felt I lacked international exposure for the Asian Games,” he said in Pilipino. “It had been a few months since I competed anywhere. But the experience from the Asian Games helped me prepare for Doha. We made adjustments in training so we were ready for the World Championships.”

For nearly three years, Yulo has lived in Tokyo, studying at Teikyo University in Tokyo and training under Kugimiya. He has learned to speak Nihongo while Kugimiya has learned to speak Pilipino. During those three years, Yulo has taken only five trips back home, for his birthday, Christmas and the PNG. He has immersed himself in training and overcome being homesick.

From Doha, Yulo will return to Tokyo, continue training then head to Cottbus, Germany, for the final stop of the eight-leg World Cup Series on Nov. 22-25. From Cottbus, he’ll go back to Tokyo and take a break to visit family for the holidays on Dec. 23. Yulo is expected in Tokyo by the first week of January.

Yulo’s goal is to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and it looks like he’s on the right track. He was the youngest male gymnast at the recent World Championships. Who would’ve imagined that the 7-year-old boy from a poor family trying his luck in gymnastics as a “walk-on” is now one of the world’s best in the sport, getting ready to add a medal to the country’s collection in the Olympics?