PARIS—The Philippines celebrated its a hundred years of Olympic participation in the most spectacular and historic way—two gold medals courtesy of gymnast Carlos “Caloy” Yulo.
“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 Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino on Monday, the morning after Yulo’s amazing Paris weekend where he won the floor exercise on Saturday and the vault on Sunday.
“Answered prayers,” said Tolentino, in an almost hoarse voice as he incessantly cheers every Filipino competing in this Paris Olympics.
“Caloy Yulo is definitely on a different level, with two Olympic gold medals, he will be on top of the conversation as one of the Philippines’ greatest athletes,” he said. “Mabuhay ka Caloy Yulo! The most bemedalled Pinoy athlete!”
“Caloy is the most bemedaled athlete in Philippine history with 23 gold medals and a total of 38 medals,” said Tolentino, adding Lydia De Vega and Elma Muros-Posadas each won 24 medals in their careers. “We all love them.”
The celebration, Tolentino said, is not over—especially the expectation for more gold medals.
“EJ [Obiena] and Aira [Villegas] and Nesthy [Petecio] are to go on board and the confidence level for them to succeed is that high,” Tolentino said.
Obiena was to compete in the men’s pole vault final on Monday night while flyweight Villegas and featherweight Petecio, both guaranteed a bronze each, fight for berths in the boxing finals this week.
