Fearless Forecast - Gymnastics chief promises gold medal from Yulo

At least one gold.

That was the bold prediction issued by Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion after seeing her prized ward — Carlos Yulo — blow away the field in the gymnastics competition of the Paris Olympics.

Carrion said he expects Yulo to win the country’s second Olympic gold medal when he competes in the final of his pet event — floor exercise — on Monday at the Bercy Arena in Paris.

In fact, Yulo delivered a glimpse of his mastery of the routine when he posted 14.766 points to finish second behind Filipino-British Jake Jarman (14.966 points) in the preliminaries over the weekend. 

Carrion said with Yulo’s performance, there’s no doubt that he can win the gold medal in the apparatus where he captured a world title in Stuttgart in 2019.

“At least one gold medal,” a confident Carrion said in a message to DAILY TRIBUNE from the French capital on Monday afternoon.

Aside from floor exercise, Yulo also advanced to the finals of vault and all-around.

In vault, he finished sixth with 14.683 points while emerging ninth in the all-around with 83.631 points, thanks to solid performances in other apparatuses like pommel horse (13.066 points), rings (13.000 points), parallel bars (14.533 points) and horizontal bar (13.466 points).

Carrion said winning another medal in vault is also doable, especially since Yulo is also a gold medalist in this apparatus in the world championship in 2021.

“Preferably, two gold medals with one from vault as well,” Carrion said, adding that Yulo went full blast in his training starting Monday up to the final round of all-around on Wednesday and vault on Sunday.

“Now that he’s in the finals, he will show his true value.”

Carrion’s bold — but encouraging — forecast is a ray of hope for Team Philippines that remains searching for an Olympic medal.

The Filipino bets had no scheduled assignment on Monday but they will go all out on Tuesday as they campaign in various fronts like rowing, boxing, judo and swimming.

At the Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, which is around 35 kilometers from the French capital, Joanie Delgaco will be facing a star-studded field composed of world champions, Olympic stars and continental and regional superpowers in the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls event.

Should the 26-year-old Delgaco emerge in the top three of Heat 3 in the race that will start at 3:30 p.m. (Manila time), she will advance to the semifinals A and B to gain a shot at the country’s first ever gold medal in rowing.

But the battle will not be easy.

Delgaco will be paddling with Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Emma Twigg of New Zealand, former U23 world champion Katharina Jansen of Switzerland, Virginia Diaz of Spain, Diana Dymchenko of Azerbaijan, and Jovana Arsic of Serbia.

Twigg, also a former world champion, had a remarkable clocking of seven minutes and 13.97 seconds to emerge as podium finisher in Tokyo.

“She responded well in the repechage,” said national team coach Ed Maerina, who was delighted seeing Delgaco sustain her momentum in the final 1,000 meters of the race that prompted her to clock 7:55 to earn a trip to the quarterfinals.

Other Filipinos who will march to battle will be Tokyo Olympics medalists Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial of boxing, Kayla Sanchez of swimming, and Kiyomi Watanabe of judo.

Petecio will clash with Jasmine Lamboria of India in the Round of 32 of the women’s 57-kilogram class while Marcial will collide with Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan in the Round of 16 of the men’s 80-kilogram event.

Watanabe, the Filipino-Japanese judoka, will also be seeing action as she faces 19th Asian Games silver medalist Tang Jing in the Round of 32 of the women’s -63-kg class while Sanchez makes her much-anticipated debut for Team Philippines when she competes in the women’s 100-meter freestyle event.