Philippines hauls medals in 2 straight 'golden' days

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines waited a hundred years for this Olympic moment.

This moment spanned two days, August 3 and 4. Gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo delivered two straight Olympic golds. (Yes, you’ve read that sentence right.)

Two female boxers, flyweight Aira Villegas and featherweight and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio, got assured bronze medals given their quarterfinal victories, while Yulo was scooping golds for two straight days.

Never in the history of the quadrennial Olympic Games that this underdog Southeast Asian country enjoyed two straight days of winning Olympic gold medals — of hauling multiple medals — to outleap itself as a sporting nation.

August 3 and 4 did belong to the 24-year-old Yulo, whose 6.600 and 6.000 start-up difficulty scores in the floor exercises and the vault, respectively, led to his homeland’s best Olympic Games outing ever.

Since Yulo started winning world-level medals at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Paris 2024 saw Yulo reach his peak — exactly what former Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama predicted some five years ago.

Yulo’s 15.116 in the vault is his highest score ever in the apparatus, propelled by a 15.433 on his first vault.

“First vault is amazing,” said International Gymnast Magazine on its annotation. Yulo did a “Ri II” (named after North Korean vaulter Ri Se Gwang), which is “a piked” version of the Dragulescu — a handspring double somersault, with one’s legs tucked to a gymnast’s chest area, and ending with a half-twist upon landing.

Ri II, a front handspring front double-piked somersault with a half twist, was what Yulo did. Upon falling down, Yulo held his piked position “strongly,” as the Olympic Games broadcast commentators noticed. His left foot just barely touched the center line in a nice landing.

“Good form, good height, good landing, just a tiny hop - the score should be big,” IGM annotated.

Nobody came close to Yulo’s first vault score, that being the push to just make ensure that he lands nicely in his final vault. The 15.433 is Yulo’s best-ever vault.

Come his final vault, Yulo did a Kasumatsu (beginning with a quarter-turned position prior to thumping