This post was updated March 5 at 8:26 p.m.
As UCLA hosted California and Utah, a lone Bruin readied to compete halfway around the world.
Junior Emma Malabuyo, used to the clamoring of an NCAA arena and teammates cheering beside her, walked onto the competition floor in near silence on the international stage.
When Malabuyo returned to California, the noise in Maples Pavilion and her family in the stands stood out the most to her.
“Hearing music or even people cheering and clapping and knowing that my family was here – it was just awesome,” Malabuyo said. “I feed off a lot of energy and from the crowd.”
The Bay Area local was met with more than 20 family members among the sea of Cardinal at Stanford on Friday when she rejoined her Bruin teammates after competing at the first two meets of the 2024 World Cup Series – vying for a spot to represent the Philippines at the Paris Olympics. Malabuyo walked away from the World Cup with 44 points for second place in the floor standings.
Gymnasts earn points for an apparatus that are correlated with their placing at each meet. After the four competitions, the top two gymnasts on each event with the highest point total across three meets will qualify for the Olympics.
After traveling to Tokyo as a Team USA Olympic alternate in 2021, Malabuyo was approached by the Philippines to represent the nation.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this anymore,'” Malabuyo said. “But they were like, ‘We followed your whole entire journey. We watched you complete in Olympic trials, and you’re an amazing gymnast, amazing person.’ So they wanted to give me this shot.”
However, Malabuyo said she would miss the final World Cup in Doha, Qatar, should UCLA qualify for nationals, with the events set to overlap in April.
“The team is my priority,” Malabuyo said. “I love them so much, and I just want to be there for them.”
The decision to potentially skip the fourth World Cup means Malabuyo would not have the opportunity to replace her points from the second competition.
Regardless of whether she qualifies for the Olympics, Malabuyo said she is grateful for the opportunity.
“If I make it or not, I was so happy that I was able to do this,” Malabuyo said. “Four years ago, it was mainly all about gymnastics, gymnastics. This is more about enjoying the experience, enjoying performing in front of everybody, enjoying school, enjoying having a social life.”
Sophomore Emily Lee, her Bruin teammate, said UCLA missed Malabuyo’s energy when she competed at the Cairo and Cottbus World Cups.
“I missed Buyo so much,” Lee said. “Not only her gymnastics, but just her energy in the gym, on the away meets, her laugh, her smile – it’s all contagious, and I’m just glad to have her back.”
In Malabuyo’s return to NCAA competition this weekend, she began with an uncharacteristic fall on bars in the first rotation.
Although usually in the floor lineup, Malabuyo was resting her ankle, so she did not compete again until the Bruins’ final routine on beam, where she bounced back with a team-leading 9.925.
“How she handled that was actually the thing that I told her I was most impressed with today (Friday),” said coach Janelle McDonald. “She right away turned the page on the mistake and focused on what she needed to do to help her team feel confident, and then she put it behind her and just nailed that beam routine for the team.”
Malabuyo’s third, and potentially final, World Cup will take her to Baku, Azerbaijan, this weekend.
Lee said that although the Bruins will miss Malabuyo, they’ll continue to cheer her on from the United States.
“We support everything she’s doing,” Lee said. “It’s amazing, and I’m so happy for her.”
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