La Ville Lumière beckons - Yulo gets much-needed R&R

La Ville Lumière beckons - Yulo gets much-needed R&R | Daily Tribune

With his successful Olympic stint done and his legacy secured, Carlos Yulo can now settle down and enjoy Paris before going home on 12 August to an adoring nation that is hailing him as the greatest Filipino athlete of all time.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion told DAILY TRIBUNE Yulo will be spending his final week enjoying the sights and sounds of the City of Light following the grueling campaign that culminated with two gold medals hanging around his neck — a historic feat that happened in the country’s 100th year of participation in the Summer Games.

Tears of joy Carlos Yulo reacts after winning the artistic gymnastics men’s floor exercise final during the Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on 3 August.
Paul ELLIS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Yulo will be enjoying Paris with his lovely girlfriend, Chloe San Jose, the Melbourne-based content creator who has been with him at this Olympic Games since 26 July.

“Let him rest and enjoy,” said Carrion in a telephone interview from the French capital known as the La Ville Lumière or City of Light.

“He went through a lot to win two gold medals for the country. It’s only fitting that we give him a chance to relax and enjoy Paris before going home to Manila on 12 August,” she added.

Paris has been the hideaway of choice for lovers around the world.

The Eiffel Tower remains enchanting as ever while the Arc de Triomphe at the western end of the Champs-Élysées is also a thing of beauty as it honors those who lost their lives in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

But Carrion said there’s only one place that Yulo and San Jose want to see. “They want to go to Disneyland.”

She said Yulo is set to check out of the Athletes Village to move to a hotel for easier access to tourist spots and other Parisian attractions.

“He needs to rest and relax because he’s going to be very busy the moment he arrives in Manila with all the interviews and appearances, which are all normal because he’s now the Olympic champion,” she added.

Golden boy

Carrion said the newest golden boy of Philippine sports keeps shining. In fact, her mobile phone had not stopped ringing since 3 a.m. — barely a few hours after Yulo completed the golden double that turned him into a living legend of Philippine sports.

She said those who wanted to reach out to Yulo and her varied from ordinary fans, friends and relatives who wanted to congratulate them to businessmen who offered reward packages and ranking politicians who simply wanted to make their presence felt.

But a message from a former sports official caught her attention.

“He said he wanted to say sorry,” said Carrion, a former Philippine Sports commissioner, Philippine Olympic Committee director, and Tourism undersecretary.

“He wanted to say sorry for not believing in gymnastics and declining all our financial requests for training and international competitions when he was still in office. I won’t mention his name but you can see that when you win everybody will cheer for you — even those who were not there when you were starting out,” she said.

“Everybody really loves a winner.”

Greatest of all time

POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino lauded Yulo, saying that it took the country a total of 97 years to win its first Olympic gold medal but only took two nights to double it, thanks to Yulo, who bravely defied the odds and overcame an elite cast of competitors to raise the Philippine flag in the biggest and most prestigious athletic conclave in the world.

“It took three generations for Hidilyn (Diaz) to win our first Olympic gold in Tokyo and it took another Olympic cycle to double that achievement,” said Tolentino, who was waving the national colors while Yulo was dominating the vault apparatus at Bercy Arena.

He said Yulo’s back-to-back feats are “answered prayers” since his pre-Olympic forecast was at least two gold medals to surpass the country’s finish in Tokyo three years ago.

“Answered prayers,” Tolentino, also the mayor of Tagaytay City, added.

“Caloy Yulo is definitely on a different level, with two Olympic medals, he will be on top of the conversation as the Philippines’ greatest athlete.”

“Mabuhay ka Caloy Yulo — the most bemedaled Pinoy athlete,” he said.

“Caloy is the most bemedalled athlete in Philippine history with 23 gold medals and a total of 38 medals,” said Tolentino, adding that track greats Elma Muros-Posadas and the late Lydia de Vega-Mercado only had 24 each.

“But we all love them.”

Tolentino stressed the celebration was not yet over as more Filipino athletes are expected to land on the medal podium entering the final week of competition.

Boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas are already assured of at least bronze medals while pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena is shooting for the gold medal at press time.

Hopes are also high for the weightlifting team of John Fabuar Ceniza, Elreen Ando and Vanessa Sarno, who will march to battle starting Wednesday.

“EJ and Aira and Nesthy are to go on board and the confidence level for them to succeed is that high,” the POC chief said.

Meanwhile, the PSC lauded the people who made Yulo’s conquest a success.

“It was a destiny shaped by everyone’s effort,” said PSC chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann, extending his gratitude to Carrion and national team coach Aldrin Castaneda.

“Thanks to everyone’s support, the nation celebrates the milestones we’ve achieved. In just two days, Carlos Yulo brought home two gold medals, but we’re not stopping there.”

“We commend everyone’s involvement in bringing the country back to glory. I am confident that all Filipinos are celebrating this special achievement like never before,” Bachmann said.

House sweetens pot

So far, Yulo is assured a total of P20 million from Republic Act 10699 or the Athletes and Coaches Incentives Act for winning two gold medals.

But the House of Representatives sweetened the pot, doubling its initial incentive of P3 million.

“We feel that it’s important to support and inspire all our athletes and to recognize their achievements,” House Speaker Martin Romualdez told reporters in an ambush interview.

“We’re very, very proud of our medalists and we look forward to more medals during this Olympics and we’re very inspired as (a) nation,” he said.

In addition to the P6 million total reward from the House, Yulo will also receive additional cash incentives from a fundraising campaign initiated by Romualdez among his colleagues in the chamber.

Senate resolutions

Meanwhile, a number of Senate resolutions were filed on Monday commending Yulo.

Senators Francis Tolentino, Joel Villanueva, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Jinggoy Estrada filed separate resolutions seeking to confer on Yulo the Philippine Senate Medal of Excellence.

The Senate Medal of Excellence is “an expression of public gratitude on behalf of the nation” that is conferred on “deserving Filipinos for setting the highest standards of excellence, nationalism, and virtue that their fellow countrymen can aspire to,” stated Senate Resolution No. 110 of the 18th Congress.

The first recipients of the Senate Medal of Excellence were Hidilyn Diaz, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial — medalists at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.