A lifetime supply of chicken: how double Olympic champion Carlos Yulo is being celebrated for Paris 2024 glory
Victorious athletes are often welcomed home as heroes when they win an Olympic medal, as is the case for Carlos Yulo of the Philippines.
He won two gold medals in the artistic gymnastics competition at Paris 2024, the only Filipino athlete so far to come home with a medal.
Yulo was victorious in the men’s floor exercise and on vault at the Bercy Arena, a huge achievement for him and the millions watching at home in the Philippines.
Carlos Yulo rewarded with everything from money to food
As well as a typical financial bonus from the government, Yulo has been showered with gifts and rewards for his Paris heroics.
The government will also reward the gymnast with a congressional medal, while he has been gifted a fully furnished home in the capital city of Manila.
Yulo will also never have to worry about certain meals for the rest of his life; he has been offered unlimited free buffets, while restaurants across the country have promised him a lifetime supply of traditional dishes such as chicken inasal.
And in case his appetite had not yet been filled, there is also an offer of free mac and cheese for life.
For his practical needs, Yulo has a free set of headlights and fog lights awaiting him, free medical consultation after he turns 45 and even a free wedding photographer for whenever the big day comes.
Philippines celebrates its new Olympic hero
Yulo wrote history as the first man from the Philippines to win an Olympic gold medal, let alone two of them at the same Games.
He is just the second Filipino athlete in the nation’s history to win gold too. Four-time Olympic weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won silver at Rio 2016, but it was five years later at Tokyo 2020 that she won the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal in the women’s 55kg.
Yulo joins an exclusive club of history makers, writing his name into Filipino sporting history after a golden Games in Paris.