MANILA: Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, flew home to a hero’s welcome Tuesday with a planned national tribute by the president and donors pledging more than $1 million worth of cash and gifts, including a resort house and free lunch buffets for life.
The 24-year-old’s wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault were the largest victory ever by a Filipino athlete since the Philippines joined the Games a century ago. Two Filipino boxers, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, won bronze medals in women’s boxing in Paris.
The euphoria over Yulo’s wins has provided a respite for a nation long ridden with poverty, deep divisions and conflicts.
“Filipinos all over the world stood united, cheering and rooting for you,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said after Yulo, fondly called Caloy by friends, captured his second Olympic gold. “No words can express how proud we are of you, Caloy. You have achieved GOLD for the Philippines, not once, but twice!”
Arriving in Manila, Yulo and the other Filipino athletes who participated in the Olympics were welcomed by flag-waving admirers who yelled his name, reached out for handshakes and took selfies. The athletes were met by their families before proceeding to the Malacanang palace, where Marcos would honor them with medals and cash gifts, officials said.
Cash and gifts pledged by the government, business tycoons and leading Philippine corporations for Yulo, including a condominium unit and a resort house south of Manila, would amount to more than 58 million pesos ($1 million). Prominent companies offered free pizzas, ice cream and lunch and dinner buffets for life.
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, who rose to global fame for winning titles in eight different weight classes and for his rags-to-riches life story, promised to reward Yulo with an unspecified amount of cash.
A celebratory parade for Yulo and the other athletes on Wednesday along Manila’s main streets is expected to draw thousands of people. It will pass near a poor community where he grew up and first trained in gymnastics with his siblings in a public gym, where a coach first noticed the impressive skills of the then-7-year-old.
“I’ll welcome him with a hug and we’ll jump together in joy,” Rodrigo Frisco, a 74-year-old relative, told The Associated Press in the neighborhood where the gold medalist has become a poster boy for hope. “Who would believe that these narrow alleys and small houses would produce a champion?”
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz clinched the first-ever Olympic gold for the Philippines in Tokyo in 2021.
Filipino gymnast who won 2 Olympic golds in Paris gets hero’s welcome and free buffets for life
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Filipino gymnast who won 2 Olympic golds in Paris gets hero’s welcome and free buffets for life
- The 24-year-old’s wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault were the largest victory ever by a Filipino athlete since the Philippines joined the Games a century ago
- The euphoria over Yulo’s wins has provided a respite for a nation long ridden with poverty, deep divisions and conflicts
PSG star Hakimi faces trial for alleged rape
- The 27-year-old Moroccan international denies any wrongdoing
- “I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” Hakimi wrote on X
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi, a key player in their Champions League-winning side last season, is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Val-De-Marne southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
The 27-year-old Moroccan international, who played a pivotal role in Morocco becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the World Cup semifinals when they made the last four in 2022, denies any wrongdoing.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it.
“A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.
The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time.
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.
She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up.
PSG coach Luis Enrique when asked about it at Tuesday’s press conference, ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.
She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.
But its treatment in general showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football,” she added.
Hakimi, born in Spain to a Moroccan mother, trained with Real Madrid making his senior debut for them in 2017.
He was also one of Morocco’s superstars during the Africa Cup of Nations, with the host team making it to the final where they lost in a chaotic climax to the tournament to Senegal.
Hakimi joined PSG in 2021, after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
