Julius Yego
 Yego in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Mr. YouTube |
| Born | January 4, 1989 Cheptonon, Rift Valley Province, Kenya (today Nandi County) |
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Kenya |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event | Javelin throw |
| Coached by | Petteri Piironen[1] |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests | AR, CR 92.72 m (2015) |
Medal record | |
Julius Yego (born 4 January 1989) is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
He won the javelin title at the
All-Africa Games in 2011 and at the African Championships in Athletics in 2012 and 2014; at the 2013 World Championships he placed fourth, losing a medal in the final round. In 2014, he became the first Kenyan to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in a field event. At the 2015 World Championships he won the gold medal with a throw of 92.72m, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World Championships gold medal in a field event. He won silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
.
Biography
Yego was born in Cheptonon (Soba River) location in Tinderet, Nandi District. He attended high school at Kapsabet Boys High School.[2]
Yego became interested in the javelin throw as a youth and later he watched videos of athletes such as Jan Železný and Andreas Thorkildsen on YouTube to help with his technique and to learn how to train at a gym.[3][4] He competed in the high school regional championships in 2003. In 2006 he won the national junior title and broke the Kenyan junior record with a throw of 67 metres. More renowned for distance runners, Yego quickly ascended to the top of the Kenyan scene.[4] He won his first national title in the javelin at the age of nineteen in 2008 and defended it in both 2009 and 2010.[5]
He earned his first national call up in 2010 and threw a personal best of 74.51 m to take the
2012 London Olympics.[8]
After two months of training at the IAAF-accredited centre in
London 2012 Olympics
qualifying round, he broke his own national record by 69 cm, to make it 81.81 m. That throw was enough to send him into the final, where he placed 12th.
At the
Dmitriy Tarabin passed him on his last throw.[11] Track & Field News ranked Yego fifth in the world that year, the first time he'd been ranked in the top 10.[12]
Yego won the javelin at the
Ihab Abdelrahman El-Sayed of Egypt.[15]
Yego continued his rise in 2015, winning the
Ostrava Golden Spike javelin on 26 May with a new Kenyan record of 86.88 m after his best throw was not flagged as a foul by the judges even though his hand touched the line.[16] On 4 June he improved to 87.71 m at the Golden Gala in Rome, placing second behind Vítězslav Veselý. Three days later, Yego won at the British Grand Prix in Birmingham, overtaking Veselý in the last round with a massive throw of 91.39 m; the throw was originally ruled a narrow sector foul, but after his coach requested a remeasurement of the sector angle, the original sector was found to not have been wide enough and the ruling was overturned. Yego's throw was a new African record, and the best in the world since 2006.[17][18] On 26 August Yego won the gold medal at 2015 World Championships with a throw of 92.72m.[19]
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Yego won silver with a throw of 88.24 m, despite only throwing once after picking up a right ankle injury.
International competition record
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Kenya
| ||||
| 2010 | African Championships | Nairobi, Kenya | 3rd | 74.51 m |
| Commonwealth Games | New Delhi, India | 7th | 69.60 m | |
| 2011 | All-Africa Games | Maputo, Mozambique | 1st | 78.34 m (NR) |
| 2012 | African Championships | Porto Novo , Benin
|
1st | 76.68 m |
| Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 12th | 77.15 m | |
| 2013 | World Championships | Moscow, Russia | 4th | 85.40 m (NR) |
| 2014 | Commonwealth Games | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1st | 83.87 m |
| African Championships | Marrakech , Morocco
|
1st | 84.72 m | |
| 2015 | World Championships | Beijing, China
|
1st | 92.72 m (AR) |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
|
2nd | 88.24 m |
| 2017 | World Championships | London, United Kingdom
|
13th | 76.29 m |
| 2018 | Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia
|
13th (q) | 74.55 m |
| African Championships | Asaba, Nigeria
|
1st | 77.34 m | |
| 2019 | African Games | Rabat, Morocco
|
1st | 87.73 m |
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar
|
8th (q) | 83.86 m1 | |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan
|
24th (q) | 77.34 m |
| 2022 | African Championships | Port Louis, Mauritius
|
1st | 79.62 m |
| World Championships | Eugene, United States | 14th (q) | 79.60 m | |
| 2023 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary
|
17th (q) | 78.42 m |
| 2024 | African Games | Accra, Ghana
|
2nd | 81.74 m |
1No mark in the final
Seasonal bests by year
- 2009 – 74.00
- 2010 – 75.44
- 2011 – 78.34
- 2012 – 81.81
- 2013 – 85.40
- 2014 – 84.72
- 2015 – 92.72
- 2016 – 88.24
- 2017 – 87.97
- 2018 – 80.91
- 2019 – 87.73
- 2021 - 77.34
- 2022 - 85.70
Personal life
Yego is married to Sincy Chemutai.[20] They have two sons, Jarvis and Finn.[21]
References
- International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ "Yego throws himself into global limelight with historic hurl". Daily Nation. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ a b Makori, Elias (2011-09-17). Rare medals for Kenya as curtain falls on 10th All Africa Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
- ^ a b JTM TALK WITH JULIUS YEGO, KENYAN JAVELIN THROWER Archived 31 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Javelin Thrower Magazine (2012-04-24). Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ Julius Yego. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ Omogbeja, Yomi (2010-08-02). Kenya overtakes Nigeria, Uganda grabs first gold as African Championships ends in Nairobi. Athletics Africa. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ Mutuota, Mutwiri (2010). Commonwealth Games trials fail to spark. The Standard. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ Njuguna, William (2011-12-06). Kenya: Yego Lands IAAF Scholarship to Train in Sweden. The Star. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ Mutuota, Mutwiri (2012-04-17). Distance runners upstaged by a javelin thrower in Kenya!. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
- ^ IAAF, 22 July 2012 Pitkämäki reaches season's best 84.90m, Torneus breaks Swedish Long Jump record in Kuortane
- ^ Jalava, Mirko (18 August 2013). "Report: Men's Javelin final – Moscow 2013". IAAF. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "World Rankings — Men's Javelin" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "Glasgow 2014 - Men's Javelin Throw Final". results.glasgow2014.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Julius Yego defies injury to win historic javelin gold in Glasgow". Athletics Weekly. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- SPIKES. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ Murtasaari, Jussi (26 May 2015). "Tapahtuiko Ostravan keihäsillassa moka? IS: Liki 87 metriä kiskaissut Yego astui voittoheiton yli". Savon Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ Hollo, Lauri (7 June 2015). "Lex Hollo: Keihäsmies Julius Keniasta" (in Finnish). MTV3. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- Yleisradio. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- IAAF. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ "MEET THE COVER MODELS – Parents Africa". parentsafrica.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
- ^ Muchene, Esther. "Javelin star Julius Yego welcomes baby boy". Standard Entertainment. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
External links
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Commonwealth Games champions in men's javelin throw | |
|---|---|
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