Carlos Yulo missed the podium for the artistic gymnastics individual all-around finals of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, but he went out of the event with no regrets.
When Philippine gymnast Carlos Yulo went out to speak to the media after the artistic gymnastics individual all-around finals of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, he was feeling pretty upbeat.
Yes, he finished 12th. Yes, he completely missed out on the podium.
But it was pretty good for his first individual all-aroud finals appearance at the Olympics.
And it was drastically better than his Tokyo 2020 performance, where he crashed out of the floor exercise qualifiers and only reached for the vault finals.
"Mas buhos po talaga. Wala nang second thoughts na 'gagawin ko ba 'to, 'di ko ba gagawin?' More on bibigay ko lahat, kahit anong mangyari. Kung ano maging resulta, masaya ako dun," Yulo told reporters after the match.
"Nagkamali man po, marami akong natutunan. Sobrang sarap sa feeling na masama sa finals ng all-around. Ang laking talon from Tokyo Olympics," he said.
[ALSO READ: Carlos Yulo misses out on medal finish, finishes 12th in Paris 2024 all-around gymnastics finals]
During the qualification, Yulo chose to play safe and said he prioritized staying injury-free.
There was a scary moment in his first apparatus, the pommel horse, when he fell flat on the way to a dismount.
That led to his lowest score of the finals at 11.900.
It was also the third lowest for the top 24 in the pommel horse.
"Pa-dismount ako, mali 'yung angle siguro sa handstand. Pero wala na ring regrets," he said. "Nangyari na yung nangyari. Tinanggap ko."
He chose to move on, and was overheard by the camera saying "next, next."
"Kasi first of all, binigay ko lahat buong puso ko. Binigay ko 'yung best ko and health akong natapos sa competition. Masaya ako sa naging result ko."
"Wala talagang regrets."
He then went on to the rings and delivered 13.933--the third best among the finalists in that apparatus.
"Pagkatapos ng pommel, 'di na ko naka-focus sa mistake ko. 'Di pa tapos ang competition, baka madala ko pa siya. Inisip ko na lang, pa-vault na ko," Yulo recounted.
It's a sign of Yulo's continuing development, after entering Tokyo 2020 as the 2019 floor exercise world champion. He then became the 2021 world champion in vault and a constant medalist in parallel bars.
Expect him to now make waves in the future in rings.
All eyes were on Yulo then for the vault. He was the 2021 world champion after all.
His performance had the difficulty rating of 6.0 and executed well with a score of 9.066. But stepping outside the lines caused a 0.3 deduction, for a total of 14.766.
He tied with Japan's Hashimoto Daiki. But Great Britain's Jake Jarman, who also has roots in Cebu, topscored the event with 15.166.
"Mababa score ko pero parang tama lang din. 'Yung angle ng landing ko, medyo mababa," Yulo explained. "The fact naitayo ko sa competition, okay po ako ngayon."
"Sobrang saya ko nagka-idea ako kung paano maa-adjust talaga sa practice."
Yulo also had a near-clean run in parallel bars with 14.500.
He also picked up 13.600 in horizontal bar.
The floor exercise was last. It's his pet event.
Yulo though admitted he had lapses there, as he stumbled on the landing of the third pass.
"Medyo nag-relax lang ng onti sa third pass," he said. "Maganda na 'yung flow ko kanina sa second pass, medyo nawala lang ako sa back handspring ko. So 'yung takeoff ko medyo humina. Dapat i-control ko siya sa landing, hindi sa takeoff."
He scored 14.333 there.
Still, no regrets for Caloy.
"Ayun po siguro 'yung aligned sa'kin. Super happy ako sa nakuha kong score. Dami kong natutunan sa pagiging all-arounder. Gusto ko lang 'wag na masyado i-stress sarili ko," he said. "Wala talaga akong regrets. Although 'di perfect, may natutunan ako."
Yulo will still compete in the floor exercise finals on August 3 and the vault finals on August 4.
(With reports from Boom Gonzalez/Cignal TV, One Sports)