Filipino Gymnast Carlos Yulo Makes History With Double Olympic Gold

Gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo made the Philippines proud yet again with his historic gold-medal finish at men's artistic gymnastics vault final on August 4 at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Carlos, 24, now becomes the country's first double Olympic gold medalist. His latest achievement shortly followed his equally historic victory in the men's artistic gymnastics floor exercise final on August 3 at the Bercy Arena. 

At the floor exercise final, where he was the third to perform in an eight-man finale, Carlos posted 15.000 points. He beat Israel's Artem Dolgopyat who bagged silver with 14.966 points and Great Britain's Jake Jarman who secured a bronze medal with 14.933 points. 

This victory of Carlos gave the Philippines its second Olympic gold since weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, ending the country's 97-year golden drought. 

For the men's vault, Carlos got an average score of 15.116, beating the performances of silver medalist Artur Davtyan of Armenia and bronze medalist Harry Hepworth of Great Britain.

For Carlos Yulo's milestones at the 2024 Paris Olympics, he will reportedly get the following from the government and some companies: a house and lot from the Philippine Olympic Committee; a fully-furnished, Php32-million three-bedroom condominium unit with parking lot in Taguig City plus Php3 million in cash from property development firm Megaworld Corp.; Php20 million (a Php10 million cash incentive for each gold medal won by a Filipino athlete in the Olympic Games is stipulated in R.A. 10699 of 2015) and a Gold Olympic Medal of Valor from the Philippine Sports Commission; Php6 million from the House of Representatives (the incentive was doubled for his double gold-medal finish; a lifetime free buffet from the buffet restaurant chain Vikings Group; Php1 million worth of products from SM Retail consumable for one year; Php 1 million worth of furniture from Apollo Home Depot; and a free lifetime engineering design from NEXA Engineering. But it's looking a lot like more rewards and incentives are still in store for Carlos.

Congratulations to the country's Golden Boy!

Lead photo from @figymnastics