TOKYO - Just moments after an underwhelming performance in the floor exercise left him out of the finals of his favorite event, Carlos Yulo found a silver lining.
He made the finals in the vault.
"Pagkatapos ng floor [exercise routine] ko, medyo down na po ako kaya nagulat nga ako," Yulo, 21, told Filipino mediamen at the end of the qualifying phase in gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics. "Hindi ko nga po alam na pumasok ako."
His sixth-place finish in the apparatus came as a timely tonic for the Manila-born gymnast, who fell short of reaching the finals of the floor exercise where he is the reigning world champion and gold medal favorite here.
New frontier for Caloy
According to Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion, vault and parallel bars are the two other apparatus where Yulo usually performs well, aside of course from the floor exercise.
But Yulo himself said this will be the first time that he'll be competing in the vault finals of a major tournament and was quite fortnight on what he felt his chances are at landing a medal in the apparatus on August 2.
"Malabo po. Ang dami pong magaling," Yulo said, breaking into a laugh. "Hindi pa po ako nakaka-finals ng vault. Unang-una ko po ito. Pero naka-finals po ako, magandang bagay po 'yon."
Yulo qualified with a 14.712 effort in the vault - his second of the six-event qualifiers. Armenia's Artur Davtyan and Korean Jean Wan Shin's leading 14.866s looked reachable, but Yulo feels he may need to reach the 15 level to medal.
To do that, Yulo said he will need to stick his landings in his two attempts.
"Kaya pa po 'yan itaas," he said of his score. "Kapag na-stick mo po ang landing, mas mataas po yan. So kapag na-stick po 'yung dalawa [na landing], aabot po ng 15."
Yulo has made no effort to hide his disappointment over his floor exercise performance on Friday night, but he also knows he can't dwell on it considering he has the vault finals to prepare for.
But regardless of what happens, Yulo said he has come to accept the highs and lows that comes with being an athlete.
"Ganito po talaga ang mundo ng pagiging atleta," he said. "Naiintindihan ko naman po na [minsan] panalo [o] talo. Isa po sa mga pinaka-matututunan ko ito."
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