Carlos Yulo looks for redemption, title defense at 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

“We will be back strong.”

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo will have a chance to make good on those words – ones included in an Instagram post he made August 2 – this week at the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.

“I just want to thank the Lord for the blessings given to me. I also thank my family for their continued support,” he wrote. “I also want to thank my team, because they made my dream of competing in the Olympics come to fruition. The path we took was not easy, but it was worth all the effort and crying.”

Yulo’s post came at the end of a disappointing Olympic performance. The 21-year-old entered Tokyo looking for history, a chance to become his country’s first-ever Olympic gold medallist in any sport.

But a fall during the qualifying round on his signature apparatus – the floor exercise – left him out of the final.

“I came here really prepared. I did my best,” Yulo said at the time. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant for me.”

He came close to a medal in the men’s vault final but came up just short in fourth place. History was still made in Tokyo, as Yulo’s compatriot weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz struck gold.

Yulo, himself, however is no stranger to historic feats. He won his nation’s first medal at a gymnastics world championships in 2018, when he took bronze. A year later, at the worlds in 2019, he was golden.

Trained by Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya in Japan since 2016, Yulo looked ready for redemption at last month’s All Japan Senior and Masters Gymnastics Championships where he won the floor exercise title with a 15.300 total score.

“He’s been doing really well in training. We are confident that Caloy will perform at his best during the world championships,’’ said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion-Norton, according to Inquirer.net.

Part of his training also includes the mental aspect of the sport, as Yulo and his team look to add a sports psychologist.

“Hiring a psychologist for Caloy is very important,” said Carrion-Norton. “Coach Mune is already looking for a psychologist for Caloy. We are trying to get a Japanese one.”

There’s much more gymnastics left in Yulo’s career, as he remains focused on Olympic gold, says Carrion-Norton.

“Caloy is now really focused with coach Mune for the world championship. He knows the importance of this tournament for his quest for a gold [in the Olympics],” she said.

With many athletes – including all three Tokyo 2020 floor medallists – taking time off following this summer’s Olympic Games, the worlds in Kitakyushu provide Yulo the perfect opportunity to reset.

And most importantly, it’s a chance for Yulo to live up to his words after Tokyo: “We will be back strong.”