Grace under pressure

He competed with a lot of pressure because everybody is counting on him to make it to the Olympics.

CARLOS Yulo clinches a spot in the Tokyo Olympics next year. JAT TENORIO

Count Carlos Yulo in the growing list of Filipinos who would compete in the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Yulo formally booked a ticket to the Summer Games after advancing to the finals of the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

The 19-year-old wunderkind from Leveriza Street in Pasay City wound up 16th out of 20 Olympic qualifiers from 14 countries after compiling a total output of 82.164 points from six apparatuses in the men’s artistic gymnastics competition.

He scored 14.633 points in floor exercise, 12.466 points in the pommel horse, 13.166 points in the rings, 14.433 points in the vault and parallel bars before capping it off 13.033 points in the horizontal bar.

Russians Nikita Nagornyy and Artur Dalaloyan finished first and second with 87.333 and 86.531 points, respectively, while Xiao Ruoteng of China emerged third with 85.831 points.

The frontrunners, however, already punched their respective tickets to the Summer Games during the previous editions of this tournament, that made it possible for Yulo to earn an Olympic slot via allocation.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion said Yulo competed with a lot of expectations.

“You have to admire the boy. He competed with a lot of pressure because everybody was counting on him to make it to the Olympics,” said Carrion, who is also a board member of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“That’s why when we learned that he made it, we couldn’t help but be happy for him. We didn’t expect this. This is the result of all his hard work, patience and determination to make it to the Olympics. He never quit. He kept on fighting.”

Yulo’s journey to the Olympics is one for the books.

He made it to the national squad as a mere walk-in at the gymnastics facility inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex before blossoming into one of the top young gymnasts who reaped numerous awards from the Palarong Pambansa, Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games.

In the 18th Asian Game in Jakarta last year, Yulo was heavily expected to win the gold medal, but he cracked under pressure, prompting him to bomb out of medal contention.

Three months after that Asian Games mishap, Yulo made history as he clinched the bronze medal in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Yulo’s coach in Munehiro Kugiyama of Japan said they learned from their Asian Games setback so they “fixed” their training program to come up with a victorious finish in Doha and inch closer to the elusive Olympic berth.

“We have to make a good training program,” said the Japanese, who has been working with Yulo for the past two years with the backing of the Philippine Sports Commission.

“He fell this time in the floor exercise. There’s a reason for that so we had to fix it. Then, we tried our best in the World Championships.”

Carrion said now that Yulo already qualified in the Olympics, they are planning to go full blast in their training and preparation in pursuit of the Olympic gold medal.

In fact, four more World Championships are in the horizon and Carrion is planning to send Yulo to all of those tournaments to give him the international exposure he badly needs.

“He has to get used competing against the best players in the world,” said Carrion, who was at the sidelines when Yulo formally bagged the Olympic slot.

“We’re not planning to rest. Instead, we will send him to the next four editions of the World Championships so he can sustain the momentum and be prepared for the Olympics next year.”

Prior to Yulo, also safely in the Summer Games is pole vault specialist EJ Obiena, who registered 5.81 meters in a competition in Chiara, Italy last month.