CARLOS YULO won’t skip the world championships in Belgium in favor of the Asian Games in Hangzhou—major competitions that will be held simultaneously in September.
“It is personal for Carlos,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) President Cynthia Carrion-Norton told BusinessMirror on Tuesday. “He told me that his dream is the world championships and qualify for the second time in the Olympics in Paris.”
“This is a collective decision by Carlos and [Japanese] coach Mune [Kugimiya Munehiro],” she said.
The Philippine Olympic Committee general assembly asked Yulo and the GAP to compete in the Asian Games instead of the world championships saying the two-time world champion still has other opportunities to qualify for Paris in 2024.
The Asian Games’ September 23 to October 8 schedule clashes with the world championships that run from September 30 to October 8 in Antwerp.
Yulo, Carrion-Norton said, expressed appreciation over the national sports associations’ request for him to compete in Hangzhou.
But the world championships—and eventually Paris—rank high in Yulo’s priorities.
“Carlos has been working so hard since the Olympic qualification from February up to April that’s why we cannot afford to lose everything we’ve worked for,” Carrion-Norton.
“We just can’t give it up and we know that there are other Olympic qualifiers in 2024 but we cannot put our fate next year,” she said. “How about if we don’t do well in 2024, so everything will be gone.”
Yulo, Carrion-Norton added, is aware of the potential financial windfall if he wins at last one gold medal in Hangzhou.
“He said that it’s not all about the money, but his dream of winning the gold in the Olympics is his only priority for now,” she said. “But Caloy is very thankful to everyone for their trust and confidence.”
An Asian Games gold medal is worth P2 million, silver P1 million and bronze P.4 million in government incentives.
Yulo is qualified for Antwerp for winning three gold medals in floor exercise, vault and parallel bars, one silver in parallel bars and two bronze medals also parallel bars and vault in the World Cup Apparatus Series in Cottbus, Doha and Baku early this year.
