How not to corrupt otherworldly sports icons
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT
(Part 1)
Tik Toks have institutionalized the Carlos Yulo landings in his floor routine for which he was awarded a perfect 15. We see people ending whatever they are doing with Yulo’s trademark open arms, or a series of tumbling into their shoes. With a 3.5 twist, Yulo ascended the Olympic podium with his gold medal, the first man to win an Olympic gold for the Philippines and second to weightlifting idol Hidilyn Diaz to harvest gold from the Olympics. He surpassed himself by winning a second gold in vault competition. Some commentators and sports writers were convinced his ability is otherworldly.
It is otherworldly because his sports mastery started in his youth. At seven, his grandfather, impressed at his initial stunts at a local playground that is the Paraiso ng Batang Maynila, motivated him to focus on gymnastics. Since they stay along Leveriza Street which is close to Paraiso, he had all the time to do his stunts and tumbling routine. Paraiso truly was once upon a time a training ground for young athletes and sports enthusiasts. In the distant past, it was equipped with some playground equipment and sports facilities including monkey bars.
Yulo could have been born several years later and missed out on these public facilities, now rare in many localities. They should cost almost nothing compared to the local governments’ own revenues and national tax allotment. Local governments never seem to realize they could produce Olympic champions by spending on some systematic sports development programs that could just spark our young Filipinos’ interest and inspire them to get into the loop. One does not need intelligence fund to highlight the importance of this public infrastructure in nurturing young bodies to global competitiveness.
From Leveriza, Yulo moved on with his journey with destiny. He competed in various Palarong Pambansa almost annually and won gold, silver and bronze medals in various contests in gymnastics. As a junior, he won mostly gold in the ASEAN School Games and Pacific Rim Competitions. As a senior, Yulo harvested more medals at the Melbourne World Cup, Baku World Cup and Doha World Cup, among others.
All told, Yulo has emerged as a young and living sports icon. He is a two-time Olympic champion, six-time world champion with two each for gold, silver and bronze; ten-time Asian Games champion; and nine-time SEA Games champion.
With Yulo’s short stature, social media seems more enamored with “the precision of his form, and the difficulty of his routines especially in the floor exercises, vault and parallel bars.” Nothing beats congenital mastery.
As the nation awaits Yulo’s return from Paris, enormous benefits await him, too.
The Philippine government is giving him ₱20 million cash while ₱6 million will come from the House of Representatives. The Philippine Olympic Committee is also gifting him with a house and lot. What was originally a two-bedroom condo unit in McKinley Hill, BGC worth ₱24 million, Megaworld was reported to have upgraded it to a three-bedroom unit worth ₱32 million, with ₱3 million cash bonus.
As if these were not enough, Yulo will also be getting from different donors such benefits as lifetime free eating privileges both buffet and ala carte, free gastro consultations and colonoscopy, free engineering designs and free furniture worth a hundred thousand pesos. The Guardian reported that he was also offered franchises for a coffee and lemon business plus a ₱10 million brand ambassadorship contract for a beauty clinic.
Dazzling, but these acts of appreciation may miss the point.
True, these donations to Yulo, and previously to Diaz, would hopefully inspire them to do many times better in the next Olympics, and many more young athletes to follow in their footsteps. But we need more than that. We need to institutionalize excellent performance in world sports competition. Sad to say, the previous budget allocated to sports development by past comparisons is not even a 10th of what other ASEAN countries spend on sports development. GMA news once described the country’s sports budget “like loose change against the income” of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
In fact, for 2025, the budget allocated to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was reduced from ₱1.156 billion in 2024 to only ₱725 million. This budget covers general operations, amateur sports, training and preparation for the SEA Games in Thailand and the Asian Winter Games in China.
So, whatever happened to the Philippine Senate’s Resolution that commended the brilliant Yulo for winning the gold medal for the men’s floor exercises at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. The Senate also recognized the potentials of Filipino athletes and in particular Yulo’s achievement as a “wake up call for our government to focus and provide more support to our athletes” competing in sports where size does not matter.
We recall what happened nine years ago when the Philippine sports contingent to the SEA Games finished a poor sixth, the PSC cried “lack of budget.” At the Tokyo Olympics of 2020, Filipino athletes complained that the Philippine government failed them. Even Diaz herself complained of insufficient funds for her training that eventually led to the Philippines’ first Olympic gold.
As Muhammad Ali once quipped, champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. For Ali, the will must be stronger than the skill. A sports development program would build the skills of our young athletes, it is hard work, strong discipline and perseverance that would build their will.
Sustaining his will is going to be a tall order for Yulo. Aside from the easy life that awaits him, and this could soften him a bit, he will have to face the reported issue with his own mother and his final decision on the next chapter of his love life. In sports like artistic gymnastics, any small distraction could cost the gold. (To be concluded next week)