Filipino gymnast Carlo Yulo, who gained two gold medals within the Paris Olympics, arrives in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. (AP Photograph/Joeal Calupitan)
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo, who gained two gold medals within the Paris Olympics, flew house to a hero’s welcome Tuesday with a nationally televised tribute by the president and donors pledging greater than $1 million value of money and items, together with a resort home and free lunch buffets for all times.
The 24-year-old’s wins within the males’s flooring train and vault have been the biggest victory ever by a Filipino athlete because the Philippines joined the Video games a century in the past. Two Filipino boxers, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, gained bronze medals in girls’s boxing in Paris.
The euphoria over Yulo’s wins has offered a respite for a nation lengthy ridden with poverty, deep divisions and conflicts. Arriving in Manila, Yulo and the opposite Filipino athletes who participated have been welcomed by flag-waving admirers who reached out for handshakes and took selfies.
READ: Carlos Yulo’s coach expects extra help for gymnastics
Carrying his gold medals, Yulo thanked all who supported the athletes. “I’m past blessed and grateful,” he instructed reporters.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gave the athletes presidential citations and 1,000,000 pesos ($17,500) every. However Yulo acquired 20 million pesos ($350,000) from Marcos, who acknowledged the difficulties the athletes went by with “no official technical help from the federal government,” a longstanding criticism.
“They did it on their very own. In fact, there are some who helped, generally the federal government is ready to assist, however there isn’t any formal construction to assist our athletes,” Marcos mentioned, and promised to repair it.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., proper, meets Olympic double gold medalist in gymnastics, Carlos Yulo throughout a welcome ceremony on the Malcañang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photograph/Basilio Sepe, Pool)
Money and items pledged individually by different authorities places of work, enterprise tycoons and main Philippine companies for Yulo embrace a condominium unit and a resort home south of Manila, amounting to greater than 58 million pesos ($1 million). Distinguished corporations supplied free pizzas, ice cream and lunch and dinner buffets for all times, together with free home and worldwide flights.
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, who rose to international fame for successful titles in eight weight courses and for his rags-to-riches life story, promised to reward Yulo with an unspecified amount of money.
READ: Staff Philippines arrives house historic Paris Olympics run
A celebratory parade for the athletes on Wednesday alongside Manila’s primary streets is predicted to attract hundreds of individuals. It can move close to a poor neighborhood the place Yulo grew up and first skilled in gymnastics along with his siblings in a public health club, the place a coach observed the spectacular abilities of the then-7-year-old.
“I’ll welcome him with a hug and we’ll soar collectively in pleasure,” Rodrigo Frisco, a 74-year-old relative, instructed The Related Press within the neighborhood the place the gold medalist has turn out to be a poster boy for hope. “Who would consider that these slender alleys and small homes would produce a champion?”
Posters with pictures of a smiling Yulo after his Olympic triumphs have been displayed on electrical posts on the entrance to his congested neighborhood and alongside close by streets.
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Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz clinched the first-ever Olympic gold for the Philippines in Tokyo in 2021.
