MANILA: Thousands of shrieking fans jammed the streets of the Philippine capital Manila on Wednesday in a celebratory homecoming parade for Paris Olympics double gold medallist Carlos Yulo. The 24-year-old gymnast rode a float with other Filipino Olympians through major Manila streets, having given his country its grandest Games result in 100 years.

By winning the men’s floor exercises and vault, the diminutive Yulo tripled the country’s overall Olympic gold medal haul to three. With his medals hanging proudly on his neck, a beaming Yulo flashed victory signs to the adoring crowd who waved Philippine flags and took selfies using the float, adorned with the five Olympic rings, as backdrop.

Giant posters bearing Yulo’s image hung from electric posts on the side of the streets. Yulo’s Olympic feat reignited hope for the 115 million Filipinos, many of whose lives are blighted by poverty, natural disasters and corruption.

Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Manila, Yulo’s journey showed that hard work and persistence pays in a world where the privileged often get a head start. He fell in love with gymnastics at seven when his grandfather brought him to watch gymnasts at an old training facility near his home.

Battling homesickness, the formidable language barrier, and strenuous training, he left the country for Japan at 16 to train under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya to pursue his dream of becoming a world-class athlete. Lia Orellano, 82, ambled out of her home with the aid of a cane on Manila’s downtrodden Leveriza Street to welcome her former neighbor Yulo.

“I’m very happy and proud of what he has achieved. He gave us hope that everyone can be like him from this small street,” she told AFP, recalling that when he was little Yulo loved “to do ‘tumblings’ here even on these dirty streets”.

President Ferdinand Marcos met the 22 Filipino athletes Tuesday and handed them hefty bonuses. Marcos gave Yulo a presidential citation and 20 million pesos ($350,000) on top of the 10 million-peso reward legally mandated for Olympic gold medallists.

Yulo also earned cash and gift pledges from other government offices and private companies. These include a fully-furnished three bedroom condominium in one of Manila’s poshy districts and a lifetime of free buffet of chicken barbeque and Japanese noodles. A gastroenterologist also offered Yulo free colonoscopy tests after he turns 45. — AFP