Carlos Yulo Philippines: Olympics gold medalist #Paris2024: Finishing with a perfect 3.5 aerial twist, preceded by 4 ashtanga motions: front split, then warrior, to handstand, then hero’s pose: motions where he found peace and drew breaths — then fearlessly performed the most difficult 3.5 aerial twist
Artistic Gymnastics Floor exercise — from ground to sky:
First, you have to generate what physicists would call enough propulsion, or energy or force, to fly into the air to gain enough aerial space to execute your movements up in the air. Then, you have to have the skill, the core strength (physical core of your body from head to hip joint), artistry for the line of your limbs to be perfectly straight while twirling in the air, the talent, flexibility, and grace to make a multiple double and triple aerial 360-degree twists vertical to diagonal twists.
All these are being performed in aerial space. It is required to power your leap to escape and defy gravity, then in mid-air, you need flexibility, core strength, and artistry to execute the movements. On landing – VERY IMPORTANT — in order not to topple, it is required to have the core strength, strong limbs and ankles, and the perfect balance to master all the forces of the universe — and get to earth with aplomb.
Carlos Yulo exceeded all these by executing a series of perfect 2.5 (not just double) aerial twists, a series of double and triple flips (aerial somersaults with straight limbs), a series of double and triple pikes and tucks (variations of aerial somersaults) and a combination 2.5 somersault with twist, and finishing with a perfect, most difficult, and golden 3.5 aerial twist – ALL WITH PERFECT LANDING, not an inch, not a microsecond, not a millimeter of tremor for each landing: Perfect.
But wait… what is not written about by “gymnastics analysts” is: Before he executed the most difficult movement, the 3.5 aerial twist, he executed four ashtanga motions: a front split (ashtanga Hanumanasana), an ashtanga warrior (ashtanga Virabhadrasana), and using only his core, arms, wrists, and hands, flawlessly proceeding to a perfect ashtanga handstand (ashtanga Adho Mukha Vrksasana) , then gracefully moving to a serene, solitary ashtanga hero’s pose (ashtanga Virasana) – finding peace and drawing breaths in the continuous motions of Hanumanasana, warrior Virabhadrasana, Adho Mukha Vrksasana, and hero’s pose Virasana …
Photo: ashtanga Hanumanasana (front split pose) with ashtanga Virabhadrasana (warrior pose)
then he stood up, went into motion and executed more twists and somersaults then gathered all the momentum of all the galaxies and rocketed to space, then up in the air he performed his 3.5 aerial twist –
then solemnly came back to us in perfect landing. Gold.
The Philippines’ Carlos Yulo, gold medalist, artistic gymnastics.
Videos from the live coverage of Philippines’ OnePh One Sports ABC5 airing live the Paris Olympics All visual materials used here non-commercially for academic purposes
