Filipino gymnastics world champion Carlos Yulo battles self-doubt, pressure to land on his feet

SINGAPORE – Still only 23, Carlos Yulo’s trophies and medals would outweigh the diminutive gymnast. Time and time again, his grace, power and confidence has earned him the biggest prize on the world stage – two golds, two silvers and two bronzes at the world championships since 2018.

The hefty weight on his shoulders has also taken its toll. It was in 2019, when he became the first Filipino world champion after clinching gold in the floor exercise, that he found himself in a funk, mulling over giving up a career that has spanned over a decade.

Speaking to The Straits Times ahead of the senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, a soft-spoken and thoughtful Yulo was candid about his struggles in the sport.

“When I got the medal, I doubted myself, like do I deserve this?” said the 1.5m gymnast.

“It was a lot of negativity when I got the medal and I was happy, but what should I do next? And every time I competed on the floor, it made me nervous.”

Held at the OCBC Arena from Thursday to Sunday, the Asian championships will feature top gymnasts like Yulo and Olympic medallists Lee Chih-kai (Chinese Taipei) and Yeo Seo-jeong (South Korea). Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina, 47, the only gymnast to compete in eight Olympic Games, is also in the mix.

The top five teams at the competition will progress to the world championships, a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The pursuit of success at the world and Olympic levels was what brought Yulo to Japan at 16, when he moved there to train under a scholarship programme by the Japan Olympic Association.

The move was tough for the teenager, who did not speak Japanese and was not fluent in English.

He said: “At first, it was really difficult for me. There were a lot of barriers – language barriers, culture, and I’m really shy when I talk to other people because I didn’t really speak English and they don’t speak English as well and that’s really hard.”

A self-professed late bloomer, Yulo spent the next few years finding his style as a gymnast while trying to adjust to the rigours of training.

He said: “I know some of my flaws, especially my attitude in every day practice. Before, I couldn’t handle the difficulty of the training and I would always cry because of the practice, but I have to do it.

“But now it’s more like I want to do it. The process is up and down... But most of the time, I was really low... From 2019, I knew myself, my body, what to eat, what to do when I’m not in a good situation.”

Rediscovering his love for the sport also took time. He started in gymnastics when he was five and would spend afternoons watching his country’s top gymnasts training and competing at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex near his home, trying to copy their moves at a grass patch in the playground.

He was later inspired to pursue it at an elite level after watching Japanese legend Kohei Uchimura at the 2012 Olympic Games, where the latter won the all-around title.

Yulo said: “Sometimes, I don’t want to do this any more but, when I get back (to training) in the morning, it’s 50-50, but that made me mentally strong as well. Even though I don’t want to do it or go, I’m just going just to show that I’m not scared.”

Yulo is now focused on the 2024 Paris Olympics, after a disappointing outing in Tokyo where he missed out on a medal when he finished fourth on the vault.

While he remains as ambitious as before, his mindset towards gymnastics has shifted.

“I do want to win but how will I win if I don’t do my gymnastics well? So I’m not really focusing on my mistakes and the medals, I just want to perform really well because, after that, it’s connected to the medals.”

This is advice he has shared with his younger siblings – brother Karl Eldrew and sister Elaiza Andriel – who look set to follow in Yulo’s footsteps.

They competed in last week’s junior section of the Asian championships, during which Karl claimed his first medal in a major international tournament with a silver in the men’s junior vault.

He said: “I’m very happy to see them striving for their goals. I don’t really see them much because I’m in Japan and I don’t see their training, but I’m so proud that they’ve gotten to their level. They’re just starting, so I hope they don’t give up on their goals.”