Carlos Yulo

Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo (born February 16, 2000) is a Filipino artistic gymnast. He is the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with his floor exercise bronze medal finish in 2018, and the first-ever gold medal finish for the same criteria in 2019 in the same event. With multiple medals on the international stage, Yulo is the most successful Filipino gymnast in history.

Yulo is a six-time world championship medalist, winning two golds, two silvers, and two bronzes; a ten-time Asian champion; and a nine-time SEA Games champion. His highest placement at the Olympic Games was fourth in the vault at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He is noted for his short stature compared to other male gymnasts, his precision in form, and the difficulty of his routines, especially in the floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars.

Early life and education
Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo was born on February 16, 2000, to Mark Andrew Yulo, a travel agent liaison, and Angelica Yulo, a homemaker, in Manila, Philippines, and was raised in Leveriza Street, Malate. He is the second of four siblings. His older sister, Joriel, is a member of the National University Pep Squad, and his younger siblings, Karl Jahrel Eldrew Yulo and Elaiza Andriel Yulo, are also gymnasts. Yulo grew up watching Filipino gymnasts train and compete at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate. Yulo started training for gymnastics when he was seven years old, when his grandfather, Rodrigo Frisco, saw him tumbling at a local playground and brought him to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) for training.

Yulo attended Aurora A. Quezon Elementary School for his primary education in Manila, where he was already training for the Philippine National Games as part of the National Capital Region's gymnastics team. Through the support of the GAP, he was able to attend Adamson University in Ermita for his secondary education.

In 2016, Yulo accepted an offer by the Japan Olympic Association to train in Japan under a scholarship program. After moving to Japan, Yulo continued his education at Teikyo University in Itabashi, Tokyo, and graduated in 2022 with an associated degree in literature.

Early career
Yulo started competing in 2008, and joined his first Palarong Pambansa in 2009 in Tacloban, Leyte. On May 1, he was part of the National Capital Region's gold medal winning elementary team, finishing with a score of 79.35 and placed fifth in the individual all-around with a score of 26.15. The following day, he won the silver medal in the floor exercise, with a score of 13.325 with Marc Capistrano of Calabarzon taking first. Yulo stated that his second and fifth place finishes encouraged him to train harder for his next Palarong Pambansa.

In 2010, Yulo competed in the Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac City, Tarlac, and took part in every event. He won gold in the individual all-around and floor exercise, and got bronze in the vault. He was also part of the men's team, where they placed fifth. The following year, he competed in the same competition in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte. He earned gold medals in the team event, individual all-around, floor-exercise, and vault. In the same year, he competed in his first Philippine National Games at the 2011 edition held in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, where he earned three gold medals in the floor exercise, rings, and parallel bars.

In 2012, he competed in the Palarong Pambansa in Lingayen, Pangasinan, and took part in every event. He won the gold in the individual all-around, floor exercise, and vault, as well as the team competition along with his teammates. The same year, he went to China alongside gymnast Jan Gwynn Timbang, for training after a sponsorship by the Philippine Good Works Mission Foundation given to the GAP. The training served as a bid for them to qualify for the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

In 2013, Yulo competed in his last Palarong Pambansa, which was held in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. He won golds in the team event, individual all-around, and floor exercise, and took a silver in the vault behind Martoni Abana. In the same year, Yulo met his eventual coach, Munehiro Kugimiya, when Japanese trainers went to the Philippines to help train the national team.

Junior
As a junior, he was coached by Aldrin Castañeda. Yulo won gold medals on the floor exercise and the parallel bars at the 2014 ASEAN School Games. He then competed at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships, finished sixth on the floor exercise and eighth on the vault. In 2015, he competed at the International Junior Competition held in Yokohama, Japan, and won a bronze medal in the vault final behind Youth Olympic medalists Giarnni Regini-Moran and Yue Ma.

In 2016, Kugimiya became Yulo's coach, and the MVP Sports Foundation started extending financial aid to his career the following year. He also received a scholarship from the International Gymnastics Federation to fund his move to Japan.

Yulo won five medals at the 2016 Pacific Rim Championships, gold on floor exercise and vault, silver on the still rings and parallel bars, and bronze in the all-around. Days before the 2017 Junior Asian Championships, he twisted his left ankle while training on the floor exercise. Despite the injury, he still competed, but he was limited to the still rings, pommel horse, and parallel bars. He qualified for the parallel bars final and won the gold medal. He only competed on the vault and floor exercise at the 2017 International Junior Competition because of a shoulder injury. He won the gold medal in the vault final and the silver medal in the floor exercise final.

2018
Yulo made his senior international debut at the Melbourne World Cup and won a bronze medal on the vault. Then, at the Baku World Cup, he won a silver medal on the vault. At the Doha World Cup, he won a silver medal on the floor exercise — his third international medal in the span of one month. At the 2018 Philippine National Games, held in Cebu City, Cebu, he won every individual gold medal. At the 2018 Asian Games, he scored highest on the floor exercise in the qualification round. However, in the event final he fell on his third tumbling pass and finished seventh.

At the World Championships in Doha, Yulo advanced to the all-around and floor exercise finals, becoming the first Filipino gymnast to qualify for a World Championships final. He was the youngest of the 24 competitors in the all-around final, and he finished 23rd. He won bronze in the floor exercise, becoming the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships. After the World Championships, he competed at the Cottbus World Cup and won a bronze medal on the floor exercise after losing an execution score tiebreaker to Casimir Schmidt. In December, he won silver medals on the vault and parallel bars at the Toyota International.

2019
Yulo began the 2019 season at the Melbourne World Cup where he won the gold medal on the floor exercise by 0.066 points. He missed the Baku World Cup due to a chest injury. He then won a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the Doha World Cup. At the Asian Championships, he placed fourth on the floor exercise and vault and seventh on the parallel bars. He tied for the gold medal on the floor exercise at the All-Japan Senior Championships with Kōhei Uchimura. At the World Championships in Stuttgart, Yulo qualified for the all-around final and secured qualification to compete for the Philippines at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He then placed tenth in the all-around final with a personal-best all-around total. In the floor exercise final, he won the gold medal, making history as the first Filipino and Southeast Asian world champion in artistic gymnastics. After his win, his below average height of 4 feet 11 inches (1.50 m) made him an example by the Senate of the Philippines as a "wake-up call for our government" to provide more support for sports where height is not considered as a determinative factor.

After the World Championships, he competed at the Southeast Asian Games and finished on the podium in every event. He won gold in the all-around and floor exercise, and silver in the pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.

2020–21
Most international competitions in 2020 were canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yulo returned to competition in September 2020 at the All-Japan Senior Championships and won a bronze medal on the vault. He also won the vault bronze medal at the All-Japan Championships in addition to a bronze medal on the floor exercise.

Yulo began the Olympic season by winning a bronze medal on the parallel bars at the All-Japan Event Championships. He then represented the Philippines at the 2020 Summer Olympics, hoping to become the country's first Olympic champion in any sport. During the qualification round, he fell on his first tumbling pass and failed to qualify for the floor exercise final. He also struggled on several of the other events and missed the all-around final. However, he did qualify for the vault final in sixth place. As the youngest competitor in the vault final, he finished in fourth place, missing the bronze medal by 0.017 points.

After the Olympic Games, Yulo competed at the All-Japan Senior Championships and won a gold medal on the floor exercise and a bronze medal on the vault. He then competed at the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan. He qualified for both the floor exercise and parallel bars finals in first place, and he also qualified for the vault final. He only finished fifth in the floor exercise final after stepping out of bounds. He then won the gold medal in the vault final and a silver medal in the parallel bars final behind China's Hu Xuwei.

2022
At the Southeast Asian Games, Yulo led the Filipino team to a silver-medal finish behind Vietnam, and he won the gold medal in the all-around. Then in the event finals, he won gold in the floor exercise, still rings, vault, and horizontal bar, and he won a silver medal on the parallel bars. He won his first-ever senior continental championships title when he clinched the gold medal at the floor exercise of the Asian Championships in Doha after taking silver in the individual all-around. He followed this up with gold medals in the vault and parallel bars.

Yulo competed at the World Championships in Liverpool and qualified for the all-around, floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars finals. He was also the second reserve for the still rings final after finishing tenth in the qualification round. In the all-around final, he finished in eighth place due to mistakes on the pommel horse, vault and horizontal bar. He then fell in the floor exercise final and finished seventh. The next day, he won the silver medal in the vault final behind Armenia's Artur Davtyan, and he also won a bronze medal in the parallel bars final.

2023
Yulo began the season at the Cottbus World Cup and won a bronze medal in parallel bars. Then at the World Cup in Doha, he won gold on the floor exercise, silver on the parallel bars, and bronze on the vault. He then won two gold medals at the Baku World Cup, on the vault and parallel bars. At the Southeast Asian Games, he led the Philippines team to a silver-medal finish behind Vietnam, and he defended his all-around title. Then in the event finals, he won the gold on parallel bars and the silver on still rings.

Yulo competed at the Asian Championships and won a silver medal in the all-around behind Japan's Shinnosuke Oka. He won three gold medals in the event finals on floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars, and he won a bronze medal on the horizontal bar. After the Asian Championships, Yulo parted ways with long-time coach Kugimiya due to personal reasons. He went back to Castañeda, who coached him as a junior. Yulo chose to not compete at the Asian Games, which were being held at the same time as World Championships.

During the qualification round of the World Championships, Yulo fell onto his back on his still rings dismount, and he also crashed his vault and was given a score of 0 for not landing feet-first. He finished last out of the 91 gymnasts who competed in the all-around. However, he still qualified for the floor exercise final where he finished fourth. As the highest-ranked gymnast on floor exercise who had not already qualified through the team or all-around competitions, Yulo qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games.

2024
Yulo began the 2024 season with a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the Baku World Cup. Then at the Doha World Cup, he won a gold medal on the parallel bars and a silver medal on the vault. He won his first continental championship all-around title at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. He won three more gold medals in the event finals, on floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars.