Ever since Carlos Yulo’s double gold in the Paris Olympics, the phone of Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion keeps on receiving inquires not just from here but from overseas as well.
“It’s amazing. There are people who are interested (to join the national team),” Carrion said during a press conference on Saturday, two weeks from Yulo’s epic showing in the floor exercise and vault.
“I’m always open to it because there is always someone there that is really good and we cannot refuse them.”
But the plan to recruit Paris bronze medalist Jake Jarman, whose mother is from Cebu, might not happen in line with the mission of seeing him compete alongside Yulo in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
“For me, competing for the Philippines would be amazing, but at the moment, it’s hard for me to make a decision like that,” Jarman said.
But since Jarman remains one of Great Britain’s top bets, chances of it happening seem remote at the moment.
“I’ve got family back in the UK, but I think for me, if maybe I’m at the end of my career, maybe I’m still at peak performance, who knows, maybe?”
With Yulo rising to greater heights, Carrion is urging the rest of the national team mainstays, Karl Eldrew Yulo included, and Miguel Besama, Ivan Cruz and Ace de Leon to ramp up their games in a bid to come up with a solid cast for the team all-around in LA.
“Because the only two athletes that I can depend on are Carlos and Eldrew. I need three more. So I made sure that for the three here I told them that you have better perform so that I can bring you as a team to the Olympics,” Carrion said.