Carlos Edriel Yulo, you are an Olympic gold medalist.
Call him the golden boy.
In his long road to redemption, Carlos Yulo has secured the Philippines’ second Olympic gold medal, saving his best for last in the Paris Olympics men’s floor exercise final at the Bercy Arena in Paris on Saturday.
It was a perfect showing for Yulo in the finals, whose routine garnered an exceptional 15.000 score headlined by an 8.400 execution score.
Yulo’s routine was headlined by his closing move — a 3.5 twist that came with a perfect landing. His signature celebration — raising his two hands in the air — was met with loud cheers from the fans in Bercy Arena.
From that point, none of the other finalists were able to match Carlos Yulo’s score. Tokyo gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat won silver with a score of 14.966, while Fil-Brit prodigy Jake Jarman settled for bronze as he tied his qualifying score of 14.933.
The signs were always there for Yulo, who showed his growth from Tokyo as early as the qualifiers. There was also his floor exercise routine in the men’s all-around finals, where his decision to up the ante paid off with a 6.600 difficulty score.
It’s been a long road for Carlos Yulo, who struggled in his Olympic debut three years ago. A medal favorite in Tokyo, Yulo only managed to qualify for the vault finals, where he narrowly missed out on the medal. In addition, he also struggled in the floor exercise at the time, which has long been known to be his pet event.
But with today’s gold, the ghost of Tokyo has been banished. At the same time, Carlos Yulo also prevented a long gold medal drought for the Philippines, following Hidilyn Diaz’s own win in Tokyo.
That, on top of adding an Olympic gold medal to cement his legacy as a Philippine sporting legend.
Carlos Edriel Yulo, multi-time world champion, Paris Olympics gold medalist.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Up next for Carlos Yulo will be the men’s vault finals this Sunday, August 4 at 10:30 p.m.. Will he score another medal for the Philippines?
Banner image from International Gymnastics Federation on X.
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