By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Twist, a couple of turns, and a scintillating aerial spin.
These are the series of moves Carlos “Caloy” Yulo did in the last 15 seconds of his High Bar Qualifications that secured the gold medal in the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around event that left the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in awe.
Expected to be the favorite in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games after dominating Germany during the 49th FIG World Artistic Championship, Yulo did not fail and even raised the bar higher for all competing contestants with the dazzling performance he put up.
Becoming not only the first Filipino to win the FIG award but also the first Southeast Asian, Yulo was laser-focused coming into the 2019 SEAG with the goal of delivering another gold for the Philippines.
Other than his splendid High Bar performance, Yulo also wowed the whole SEA during the Floor Exercise where he racked up more points on his way to being hailed as the gold medalist.
Tallying an emphatic 84.900 total points, Yulo was followed by Vietnam’s Dinh Phuong Thanh with 82.350 and Le Thahn Tung with 81.700.