Emma Malabuyo obtains Paris 2024 quota at Asian Gymnastics Championships
Three years after serving as U.S. alternate to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, held in 2021, gymnast Emma Malabuyo has secured a quota spot for Paris 2024*.
Representing the Philippines, Malabuyo finished in third place in the all-around with a 50.398 total Friday (24 May) at the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She is the highest placing athlete who is eligible for the quota.
"I'm just so overwhelmed. I'm speechless. I think I'm still shaking just hearing the news. And I'm still like, 'Is it real?' Like, I still can't believe it just because it's been such a long and arduous path to get here," Malabuyo told Olympics.com following competition.
"I'm in shock and I can't believe it."
Overall, the People's Republic of China's Hu Jiafei topped the all-around standings while China also won the team competition.
Malabuyo, 21, began representing the Philippines, birthplace of her grandparents, last season and narrowly missed obtaining a quota earlier this year through the International Gymnastics Federation’s World Cup series.
Following the final event of the series, Malabuyo was disappointed and down on herself.
"At the end of the series, I was honestly super heartbroken, and I remember just crying for three days straight. I pulled all nighters because I just was so heartbroken and I couldn't believe it. I was really doubting myself," she admitted.
But with the encouragement of her parents, Malabuyo persisted.
"My parents reminded me of, like, 'You know what? Just try doing all around for Asian Championships. Just give it your all and just see what happens,'" she recalled. "I really wanted to give up because I doubted myself... but as I started getting my skills [back] fairly quickly... I was like, 'Wait, maybe, I can just have a good showing all around.' I didn't think I had the potential to get an Olympic spot. I definitely was like, 'Okay, we'll see where this ends up.' But I performed and just did my best and I gave it my all today."
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*National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
To secure a quota at the Asian Championships, Malabuyo had to compete in the all-around, something she hadn’t done in elite gymnastics since the U.S. Olympic trials in 2021.
She competed the all-around eight times in 2022 as a freshman as part of the University of California at Los Angeles women’s gymnastics team.
Her individual apparatus scores in Tashkent were 13.033, vault; 11.446, uneven bars; 12.566, balance beam; and 13.333, floor exercise.
Malabuyo had to fight hard to save a giant element toward the end of her uneven bars routine, a fight that defines her journey to this point.
"I didn't give up. I didn't give up after the World Cups. And today, especially on bars, I fought for everything, and I fought for every tenth," she said.
Friday’s competition was a nailbiter that came down to the vault of Kazakhstan’s Aida Bauyrzhanova. She needed a 13.000 to pass Malabuyo, who was watching in the stands.
"I felt like I was going to throw up," the Filipino-American said of the wait to see if she'd secured the quota. "I was holding hands with [teammate] Levi [Jung-Ruivivar] and the other girls on the team."
Bauyrzhanova vaulted a clean Yurchenko full with a small hop forward but came up just short, earning a 12.966.
"I think what it really means to me is that I find fulfillment in just putting everything that I can [into something], and like staying persistent all the way to this moment," said Malabuyo. "I just didn't give up on this dream and just staying persistent and having the resilience to do this. I think I'm just most proud of that. I think it's also just made me stronger, too."