Eliza Yulo hauls five gold medals in 2024 Palarong Pambansa

Eliza Yulo, youngest of the famed artistic gymnast siblings, snared three more gold medals to hike her total to five at the 64th Palarong Pambansa secondary girls artistic gymnastics at the Cebu Institute of Technology - University (CIT-U) on Sunday, July 14.

Prior to this tournament, the younger sister of world champion and Olympian Carlos Yulo already won two golds from the individual and team all-around categories.

Yulo dominated the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise events while also bagging a silver medal at the vault where she notched 11.650 points.

The 14-year-old scored a quick gold in uneven bars with a 9.85 score over NCR teammate Amara Zoe Lagdameo and Western Visayas’ Sarah Lee Thompson.

Yulo then bounced back from an iffy performance in the balance beam bagging a golden 12.05 result ahead of CALABARZON’s Jewel Rich Dagohoy and Central Luzon’s Tallula Adrienne Rose Nadres.

The US-trained gymnast achieved a 10.900 mark in floor exercise, enough for a double gold tie with NCR teammate Cielo Esliza.

Yulo and Esliza won a gold medal each.

“I am so happy and surprised because this is only my first Palaro in the secondary level,” Yulo told Rappler after the event.

“My US training helped a lot. I cleaned up a lot of my movements and skills,” she added.

Despite missing the clean gold sweep, a five-gold haul is still no small feat even for an athlete of Yulo’s caliber, especially considering that she still has four years of Palaro eligibility in the secondary level.

As of July 15, 9:45 am, the National Capital Region is now leading the medal scoreboard of the 2024 Palarong Pambansa with a total of 170 medals, followed by CALABARZON (Region IV-A) with 116 medals and Western Visayas (Region VI) claiming the third spot with an overall 99 medals.