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Carlos Yulo celebrates after scoring his first-ever Olympic gold. FIG |
MANILA--For the second straight season, the Philippines is a gold medal-winning country in the Summer Olympics thanks to gymnast Carlos Yulo.
The 24-year-old wunderkind finally reached the Promised Land in his pet event, the floor exercise, after a near-flawless routine in the medal round on Saturday at the Accor Arena in Paris.
Yulo, who crashed out in the final three years ago in Tokyo, finally hit the perfection he needed to win it all.
Yulo, who performed third in order, scored exactly 15 points, enough to edge Israel's Artem Dolgopyat, who came right before him, for the championship.
Dolgopyat, the erstwhile champion, tallied 14.966 points, but following Yulo's 15-pointer, he had to settle for the silver this time.
British-Filipino gymnast Jake Jarman captured the bronze after scoring 14.933 points.
Yulo capturing the gold made up significantly for Carlo Paalam's farewell from medal contention at the Paris North Arena in the nearby city of Villepinte.
Paalam could not sustain a solid first round and fell prey to Australian opponent Charlie Senior in the men's 57-kilogram boxing quarterfinals.
The bout was tight almost all nine minutes long with Paalam showing his accuracy and solid evasion and Senior making good use of his height and reach advantage.
The verdict ultimately came at the hands of Irish judge Ben McGarrigle.
With two judges, Bachir Abbar and Susann Kopke, already having Paalam winning by Round 2 and two more, Wade Peterson and Piroska Beki, likely giving the bout to Senior after two, McGarrigle, who had it 19-all six minutes in, gave Round 3 to Senior.
Senior got the perfect 30 from Peterson, while Beki and McGarrigle both scored the bout 29-28 for the Aussie pug, who is now assured of at least a bronze medal depending on how far he will progress in his division.
Abbar had it 30-27 and Kopke tallied the bout 29-28 for Paalam, who kissed his medal hopes goodbye after winning the silver in Tokyo back in 2021.