Double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo has rallied his fellow Olympians to celebrate their Paris stint and gear up for their next competitions.
Speaking before the President, the First Family, and various government officials, the decorated Filipino gymnast conveyed how proud he was to don the national colors with his 21 fellow Olympians, who also arrived with him in Manila on Tuesday night, Aug. 13.
He encouraged them to savor the results they have achieved, which were, by far, the most impressive finish for the Philippines in the Olympics.
"Sa lahat ng atleta, sobrang proud po ako na pinaglaban po natin, binigay po natin yung best natin sa lahat po. Dugo't pawis ang inalay natin. Hindi pa nagsisimula yung competition, sobrang proud na proud na ako sa inyong lahat (To all the athletes, I am very proud that we fought, we gave our best. We sacrificed our blood and sweat. The competition was not even starting yet I was already very very proud of you all)," Yulo said in his speech at the dinner reception hosted by President Marcos at the Malacañan Palace upon their arrival from Paris.
"At ngayong tapos na yung competition, i-celebrate natin yung mga nakuha nating resulta at mas galingan pa natin sa mga susunod na competition (And now that the competition is over, let us celebrate the results we achieved and let us keep on doing better in our next competitions)," Yulo told the 16 other Olympians who were able to attend the Palace reception.
Seated beside the President at the dinner reception, Yulo was the center of attention that night where officials, his fellow athletes, and the First Family could not help but to marvel at him and his gold medals.
That night, he was also given another P20-million cash incentive from the Office of the President, doubling his cash incentive given by the government under the law.
Because of the four-medal Olympic finish of team Philippines, Marcos was also compelled to provide P1-million cash incentive to every Olympian, noting that qualifying for Olympics "is an extremely difficult achievement to manage."
Marcos also extended P2 million each to bronze medalists Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas.
He also asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to provide additional P1 million to every Olympian to bring their total cash incentives to P2 million.
Yulo won two gold medals in the Men's Artistic Gymnastics Floor and Vault events. His double victory in Paris came three years after Hidilyn Diaz brought home the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.