The Philippines’ Carlos Edriel Yulo competes in the parallel bars event of the artistic gymnastics men’s qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
Caloy Yulo has an opportunity to join a handful of Filipino athletes who have pulled off rare feats of winning multiple medals in their Olympic careers.
But unlike Teofilo Yldefonso and Hidilyn Diaz, the Malate-born gymnast can produce a first for the Philippines in its 100-year history of participation by claiming multiple medals in a single Olympics.
Yulo qualified for the finals of the men’s all-around, vault and floor exercise of the Paris Games, a remarkable showing for the multi-time world champion who struggled in his debut three years ago in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo edition.
Taking at least one medal is considered a success in any Olympics, and possibly a life-changing accomplishment for a PH athlete who would step onto the podium—with fame and fortune likely to follow.
That was the case in the Tokyo meet when Diaz ended the country’s long wait for a gold, along with silver medals by boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam and a bronze from fellow slugger Eumir Marcial.
Before her golden moment in Japan, Diaz claimed a silver in Rio in 2016 which snapped a 20-year medal drought for the Philippines.
Yldefonso was the first to bag more than one medal in the ultimate sporting event when the swimmer known as the “Ilocano Shark” produced two bronzes.
It both came in the 200-meter breaststroke in 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angeles Games. He made a third Olympic appearance in 1936 in Berlin but missed out on a podium finish in the same event.
Any medal Yulo may get in those three events would give sporting fans back home a reason to smile, but of course, winning gold is cause for a massive celebration. INQ
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