TWO-TIME Paris Olympics gold medalist Carlos Yulo was discovered by Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya who took him to Japan and trained him in gymnastics.
What that means is that it took a foreigner to discover him and to invest in him.
What that also means is that aside from his own father and a Filipino named Lope Lim, no one else cared to help him, not even the government.
However, it is now coming out that a successful businesswoman, Cynthia Carrion has been helping Yulo ever since, providing for his needs so that he could pursue his dreams of becoming a top athlete.
Thanks to Kugimiya, Lim and Carrion, Yulo is where he is now, practically a national hero who is being showered with gifts and rewards by so many new supporters. Among so many others, Yulo now has Andrew Tan and Manny Pangilinan as his new patrons.
While I am very happy that Yulo never has to worry about funding, perhaps for his future Olympic ambitions, I feel sad that his success is more of an “accident”, instead of being an outcome of a well-organized sports development program that will ensure more prospective Olympians.
As a matter of fact, I am even sadder that there could be hundreds of gifted Olympic material out there, who missed their chances to become Olympians, because they did not get the support that they needed.
How and where was Yulo first discovered? Was he discovered by Lim at the gyms of the RIzal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC)? Or was it Lim who first brought him to RMSC?
And how did Yulo end up competing in the Palarong Pambansa? Did he qualify because he trained well at the RMSC?
At what point did Carrion discover him?
Even if we do not know the answers to these questions, we know for a fact that the Palarong Pambansa is like a magnet where many of the prospective Olympians could be discovered, but there does not seem to be a system to manage the whole process.
As far as I can recall, there were no organized tryouts to choose the players for the Palarong Pambansa, at least during my time.
I can also recall that no one from my own private high school was chosen or much less tested to play at the Palarong Pambansa. What that means is that many students from the private schools who might have been Olympic material are lost through the cracks.
To add to that, there is also no system that could test and choose prospective athletes from among the out of school you. Who knows that an Aeta child might excel in archery? Or a Badjao child might exceed in swimming and diving?
To go to my point, the government should create a database of prospective Olympians, not just including the medalists at the Palarong Pambansa, but also including those who could pass the tryouts that are open to the youth, regardless of whether they are at school or they are out of school.
The database should not be too difficult, and any computer company could fund it or build it. I could help design and create it also./PN
