
It would seem like the Carlos Yulo and his mom drama simply cannot be avoided these days, having become the talk of the town and tarnishing the shine that should’ve come with the country’s first ever double gold medal in the Olympics.
It all started when the gossipy Pinoys noticed that Caloy failed to mention his mom, Angelica, from the people he thanked after winning his medal. The latter, on the other hand, also did not congratulate her son on her social media.
Online sleuths were then able to dig up old Facebook posts by Mrs. Yulo that revealed a long running dispute between the mother and son over money. Apparently, the mother, who had access to the gymnast’s bank account, took from his prize money won from the 2022 World Championships without telling him. Mommy was of course outraged that her son would accuse her of stealing, apparently insisting that she took just enough of his money for the family’s needs. She also wasn’t happy with the girlfriend, saying she was a bad influence on him and was driving a wedge between her and her now-golden son.
This much drama between the country’s new idol and his mom drove the rumor mills on overdrive, and Filipinos, being the gossip and scandal loving people that we are, seemed to focus on it more than the historic and inspiring achievement of Carlos Yulo. Of course, the crap load of money and incentives now coming his way only serves to add fuel to the fires of the drama.
Keyboard warriors came to life, either slamming the mom, or invoking the famous “utang ng loob” card, quoting the Bible, and of course, also dragging the girlfriend into the mess.
I didn’t care much for the drama because it is none of my business. However, since my deadline was coming up fast and I was already starting to panic, my feeble brain picked on the shiniest target available and unfortunately for the poor Yulos, they are currently it.
On the state of their personal affairs, I am siding with the son on this one. If the mom was taking money from him without his consent, she is lucky that all she got from him was hurt feelings and not a criminal complaint. While children should respect their parents, the definition of respect is that it not only goes both ways, but it can be very easily lost, and even by parents. Carlos Yulo is no longer a child and if his mom has wronged him by unauthorized money taking, I don’t blame him for not putting his mother in his list of favorite people in the world right now.
I am the type of parent who knew from the beginning that children are the worst financial investment because there is no ROI. I subscribe to the belief that I have no right to any money that my children earned themselves. That is a very simple rule that I plan to keep, although I will gladly accept anything they give me of their own free will, should they become richer and more successful than I ever was.
The gray area here is that given the challenges faced by athletes who are mostly discovered and start training at a young age, parents can be heavily involved in their lives, which makes things complicated. If there is no line drawn between parent and manager, which could be in the case of the Yulos, there is a big chance of conflict, especially when money management is involved. I don’t know what the arrangement of the mother and son is, but if they are going to fix their relationship, they will need to figure out where to draw the line between the personal and the professional. Sadly, by now it might be too late.
The drama within the Yulo family that can be boiled down to finances is also an indicator of just how difficult it is to be a national athlete in this country. Because if you come to think of it, had Carlos not won any gold medals, he would have come home with nothing, which is probably what he had when he left home as a national athlete.
Most of the country’s athletes live off meager stipends. And while they supposedly get some kind of support for basic training and development, that is usually nowhere near the comprehensive type that an Olympic medalist needs, so any extra bells and whistles will have to come from out of pocket or private sponsors who have to be convinced that their potential is worth investing in.
Winning a medal at the Olympics may get the athlete an impressive set of prizes, but a lot of us forget the long and difficult, often impoverished road toward it. Medal winners are but a tiny percent of all national athletes, and those who can qualify for the games who aren’t well off to start with will have struggled to make ends meet while at the same time dedicating their whole lives towards a sport, in a gamble that they if they train hard enough, kiss enough ass to fund their goal, and are resilient enough to finally be there and get the chance, maybe they can also hit the jackpot.
Being a national athlete in the Philippines with aspirations of an Olympic medal is certainly a tough road to take, and it takes a certain kind of person to be able to power through it all. That is why all national athletes, and their parents that supported them (not the other way around, mind you), whether they win or lose, deserve our utmost respect, along with better support from their own government that cannot just place bets only after the winners have emerged triumphant.*