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Debates and discussions about the family saga of multiple Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo continue to rage online. Every day, a new angle comes out, making many feel that there’s no end to it in sight.

At the same time, a journalism professor and a veteran journalist have separately opened a new flank. They are questioning the click-baiting, sensationalist, and privacy-challenging media coverage of Yulo’s family matters.

I agree with Danny Arao and Joel Pablo Salud. I feel the coverage was a disservice to Yulo, the other Olympians, and the public since less time had been devoted to Olympic sports and more to gossip and family drama which editors can quite possibly resist the urge to publish and amplify.

It was a matter of time before other Olympians reminded everyone, especially the media, that they had forgotten what really matters because of the mad dash to report on a family controversy.

By Thursday, news had come out that two Olympians were reportedly not informed or forgotten to be invited to the official welcome and the palace ceremonies. The focus, assignment, and reporting on the Yulo family was a decision that arguably made the media forget to count the Olympians present and raise concerns about whether all Olympians have come home, welcomed, honored, and paraded.

In a parallel universe, the media could have sought gymnastics coaches and trainers, and historians too, to explain what Yulo accomplished in the vault and floor exercises, and why it is historic not just for the fact that the two Olympic golds have turned a new page in Philippine history. How difficult is artistic gymnastics? Is this also a historic first for Southeast Asia in this sport?

What has happened and continues to happen as far as Yulo is concerned is a telenovela with no end, as well as a running tally of monetary rewards and in-kind gifts. A former governor has also offered Yulo a ₱5-million reward with the sensational and intrusive condition that the Yulo family be reunited, to his moral satisfaction.

The Olympic Games’ social media pages meanwhile continue to include Yulo’s feat among the highlights of Paris 2024 in new posts, unaffected by Philippine media coverage.

We can only guess what’s going on in Yulo’s mind since he had been busy from the moment he and the other Olympians returned to a country beaming with national pride. We wish him a well-deserved rest and recreation soon. We hope he will stand his ground and be strong amid the pressures, unsolicited advice, and demands coming from all directions. I believe there are a lot more people who are responsible, compassionate, and respectful of Yulo’s intelligence, wisdom, and rights as a person.

What we can focus on as fellow citizens is to keep the pressure on government, national sports associations, and private benefactors to give world-class service, funding, and assistance to our national athletes who have proven themselves to be world-class, Olympic champion material, and among the world’s best.

We must hold the President to his words that he wants to be part of sports development, and of having a formal sports infrastructure for Philippine sports. We also need to press the Speaker to prioritize the bill for a lifetime pension and the enhancement of rewards for successful athletes, which he had promised.

Let us invite our athletes to speak for and about sports, and press them to say what they need and what they are capable of helping build or create, be they programs for new and old sports, or identifying and developing new talent across our archipelago. Or even as "simple" as the proper scheduling and phasing of designing, choosing, sizing, ordering, and delivering promptly the uniforms and equipment for national, regional, and international events.
The proper role of families, in my view, should be total and complete support for children’s involvement in sports. Families should be the lead cheerleaders of our athletes, period. Government must support families in this, to grow a healthy and fit citizenry.

Together with the arts, sports should be a must-have, not a nice-to-have, in families, schools, and neighborhoods. Let our Olympians from Tokyo to Paris inspire children to take on sports, and along the way smash stereotypes and hopefully compete with the best in the world, the same way Hidilyn Diaz, Aira Villegas, EJ Obiena, Bianca Pagdanganan, Dottie Ardina, and Yulo have marvelously done.

Enough of gossip. Let the kids go to gyms, pools, rings, greens, courts, and other sports venues.