MANILA, Philippines — Tokyo-bound Carlos Yulo is making sure he will not be distracted from his main goal of delivering the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo next year.
That is the reason the pocket-sized, 20-year-old world champion gymnast is sacrificing spending Christmas with his family back home to stay focused on his training in Japan.
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“Caloy wanted to come home for Christmas and I felt so bad to refuse him as this is the most focused he should be to win the gold medal in the Olympics,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion-Norton yesterday told The STAR.
Carrion-Norton said Yulo is now the early stage of his preparation towards Tokyo where he hopes to make a historic breakthrough.
“We have seven more months of focused training,” she said.
Yulo is now No. 1 in floor exercise in the recent world rankings and is aiming to be No. 2 in vault.
And the Leveriza, Manila native is just peaking at the right time after he copped a pair of bronze medals in floor exercise and vault in the 74th All-Japan Championships a week ago.
It was an improvement from a mere bronze medal effort the 74th All-Japan Championships last September.