It has been a quiet season for Olympic silver medallist Julius Yego as he continues recovery from a shoulder injury and training in preparation for the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The ‘YouTube Man — as he is popularly known — withdrew from several championships, most notably the Kip Keino Classic World Athletics Continental Tour in Nairobi on October 3 as he felt unfit to compete.
Nonetheless, his sabbatical leave has also accorded him an opportunity to reflect on his journey to javelin stardom that culminated in gold medal at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
So popular was Yego in the aftermath of Rio that he was the inspiration behind rapper Khaligraph Jones hit single ‘Julius Yego’, which is an ode to the 32-year old’s power and precision when throwing the javelin. There were also public service vehicles emblazoned with graffiti of Kenya’s field events sensation.
However, Yego’s rise to fame was not accidental or coincidental. Rather, it was the product of many years of painstaking patience and persistence that required stoic will.
“Mine was a special case. I persevered a lot. I count myself a special and unique character. If someone can go through and make it, like I did, then that’s a special person. I had friends whom we trained together but they never made it like I did,” Yego says.
A recurrent challenge that Yego faced in his efforts to hone his javelin technique was lack of equipment. It was a frustrating state of affairs for a man who fell in love with the sport ever since his primary school days.
“I remember I used to borrow training sessions at Moi Stadium, Kasarani and there was only one javelin equipment for competition. It was also difficult to train without a coach. It was a difficult time for me since AK never had a chance for such sports,” he says.
It is during this period that the internet became Yego’s best friend as he juggled the roles of a coach and athlete in an effort to perfect his art and craft in javelin.
Virtual sessions on YouTube brought him up to speed with the latest rules and techniques and the physical preparations required to throw the javelin as far as possible. Looking at the accolades he has amassed thus far, it is safe to say that the time spent online was not in vain.
Before his exploits in Rio, Yego had clinched the African title at the 2011 All Africa Games as well as at the 2012 and 2014 Africa Championships.
His gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was the first time ever that a Kenyan had clinched a medal at a field event in the quadrennial event.
At the 2015 World championships in Beijing he set an Area Record of 92.72m.
Heart for sprinters
Unbeknown to many, Yego’s achievement in javelin would never have occurred if he had succeeded in his brief stint as a sprinter.
As his javelin dreams seemed to wither away in the face of adversities, his primary school teachers advised him to specialise in 100m and 200m where there were less stringent requirements compared to javelin.
However, sprints did not give him an adrenaline rush as throwing a javelin did and he soon reconciled with his beloved sport.
“My talent was in javelin. I had poor results on the track during school games and that forced me to focus on javelin, without giving up,” Yego says.
Nonetheless, his brief experience in sprints also enlightened — him on the challenges that Kenyans sprinters undergo in preparing for national and international events.
As he takes a walk down memory lane, Yego believes that the challenges of the two disciplines are intertwined.
It is his desire that budding talents in sprints and field events will not walk down the thorny path that seasoned athletes in these categories have trodden on their way to prosperity.
“I don’t want to see any young athlete to go through what I went through. The federation (Athletics Kenya) should show interest in these events because there are talents languishing to oblivion,” Yego says.
He cites the late Nicholas Bett as an example of how Kenya is laden with talents in sprints and who can bring the country more medals if only AK can provide them with modern training facilities and support.
“I did it so well and Bett did it well in hurdles too. We need good coaches and federation officials to guide us. The current problem is that many people who go for training only do so to go for trips and not really to learn,” he says.
Bett was the first Kenyan to win a gold medal in a sprint event at a top-level competition courtesy of his 400m hurdles title at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
A year earlier, at the African Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, Bett clinched a bronze medal in his speciality and was also part of the Kenyan team that finished third in the 4x400m relay — other members of the team included Boniface Mucheru, Mark Mutai and Solomon Bwoga.
At the 2018 Africa Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, he finished third in the 400m hurdles. Yego believes that a restructuring of the school curriculum can also unearth more Betts and Yegos through increased emphasis on sports as an alternative career path.
Advice to youth
To reach the levels of Bett — or even higher — Yego warns aspiring sprinters and field event participants against complacency and unnecessary competition among themselves.
He believes that many young athletes lose the plot when they become preoccupied with outdoing certain individuals rather than focusing on their long-term goals.
“As an athlete, your focus should not be on defeating Yego but rather making a great thrower. You should be concerned about surpassing what I have reached and establishing your own legacy. If you beat me, I will come and say thanks, you are a great athlete but continue working hard to surpass that,” Yego says.
By virtue of assuming captaincy during Team Kenya’s various events, Yego has been whispering words of advice in the ears of young athletes.
Based on his experiences, these athletes would do well to embrace these words in their heart and put them to action.
