Yulo delivers promise, visits old training gym

Promise fulfilled.

Carlos Yulo made a return to his old gym in Tokyo to express his gratitude to old friends and teammates who helped him become the most successful Filipino Olympian.

The 24-year-old Yulo stepped into the training facility of the Tokushukai Gymnastics Club on Tuesday and took a stroll down memory lane where he blossomed from a 17-year-old newbie into an international powerhouse with two Olympic gold medals hanging around his neck.

“Thank you so much to the Tokushukai Gymnastics Club. Thank you very much for your kind support and encouragement,” Yulo said.

“Looking forward to training with you again soon. Hope you’re all doing well!”

Yulo started training in Japan under the mentorship of Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya through the support of the Japan Gymnastics Association and the Japan Olympic Committee.

The training program that started in 2017 bore fruit in 2019 when he emerged with a gold medal in the floor exercise event of the 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany.

Since then, he won a gold medal in vault when the event was held in Kitakyushu, Japan in 2021 and silver in vault when it was staged in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

But his biggest break happened this year when he captured the gold medals in floor exercise and vault events of the Paris Olympics, raising his profile as one of the greatest Filipino athletes ever.

Amid the success, Yulo made a promise to return to Japan to personally thank his clubmates and coaches, including Kugimiya, whom he parted ways in heartbreaking fashion last year.

Yulo said seeing former clubmates Shinnosuke Oka and Takaaki Sugino winning gold medals in the Paris Games further motivates him to work hard on his craft.

Oka and Sugino won gold medals in the men’s team all-around. Oka, however, also bagged the gold medals in the individual all-around and the horizontal bar as well as a bronze medal in parallel bars.

“Being able to train with great friends like you is a great motivator for me.”

Kugimiya said he hopes to meet Yulo someday.