![]() Yego in 2015 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Nickname | Mr. YouTube |
Born | Cheptonon, Rift Valley Province, Kenya (today Nandi County) | January 4, 1989
Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) |
Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
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.
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 bronze medal at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics, which was held in Nairobi. [6] He improved his best to 75.44 m at the Kenyan Commonwealth trials. [7] He travelled to New Delhi for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and ended the competition in seventh place with a best throw of 69.60 m. In 2011 he still did not have a throwing coach, due to the lack of popularity of the event in Kenya. Despite this, he won a fourth straight Kenyan title then went to the 2011 All-Africa Games and became Kenya's first ever champion in the event, throwing a Kenyan national record mark of 78.34 m. [3] This bettered Paul Lagat's fourteen-year-old national record (78.20 m). In respect of this achievement the IAAF (the sport's governing body) gave Yego a six-month scholarship to train alongside elite javelin coaches in Europe, with the aim of preparing him for the 2012 London Olympics. [8]
After two months of training at the IAAF-accredited centre in Kuortane, Finland, Yego returned to Kenya in April 2012 and threw a new record of 79.95 m. This was within the Olympic "B" standard for the event and gained him the prospect of becoming the first Kenyan person to compete in the javelin at the Olympics. [9] He improved the Kenyan record at Finnish Elite Games Series event in Kuortane on 22 July 2012, Finland throwing 81.12 metres [10] During the 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 2013 World Championships in Moscow Yego placed fourth, improving his Kenyan record by more than three metres to 85.40 m. He was the first Kenyan ever to qualify for a field event final at the World Championships, and was in bronze medal position until Russia's 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 2014 Commonwealth Games, beating the reigning Olympic champion, Keshorn Walcott, with a distance of 83.87 m. [13] Yego was the first Kenyan athlete to win a Commonwealth title in a field event. [14] He won a second gold later that summer at the African Championships, throwing a season best 84.72 m and defeating world leader 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.
1No mark in the final
Yego is married to Sincy Chemutai. [20] They have two sons, Jarvis and Finn. [21]
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about 2.5 m in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.
Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Marius Corbett is a South African javelin thrower. He won a gold medal at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics, improving his personal best by 4.50 m during the contest. The following year he threw 88.75 m to win the 1998 Commonwealth Games, which stands as the Commonwealth Games Record and was also the African record until Julius Yego's throw of 91.39 on 7 June 2015 in Birmingham.
Sunette Stella Viljoen-Louw is a South African sportswoman who has represented her country in both cricket and athletics. In athletics, she competes as a javelin thrower and has won an Olympic silver medal and two Commonwealth Games gold medals, as well as medals in various other competitions. As a cricketer, she represented the South African national team between 2000 and 2002, including at the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand.
Braian Ezequiel Toledo was an Argentine javelin thrower who improved the World Youth Best in boys' javelin throw by more than six metres.
The Men's javelin throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–11 August.
Keshorn "Keshie" Walcott, ORTT is a Trinbagonian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is an Olympic champion, having won gold in 2012. He is the first Caribbean male athlete, as well as the first of African descent, to win the gold medal in a throwing event in the history of the Olympics. He is also the holder of the North, Central American and Caribbean junior record.
Damian David George Warner is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and a four-time world medallist. Warner also won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 Commonwealth champion and a two-time Pan American champion from the 2015 and 2019 Games. Competing in the heptathlon, he is the 2022 World Indoor champion.
Eunice Jepkoech Sum is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She was the 2013 World champion and won the bronze medal in 2015. Sum took a silver and a gold at the 2012 and 2014 African Championships in Athletics respectively. She was also 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a three-time successive Diamond League winner in 2013–15.
The men's javelin throw at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 15–17 August.
Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He has a personal best of 1:42.54 minutes for the event. He represented Kenya at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics and was a gold medallist in the 4×800 metres relay at the 2014 IAAF World Relays. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal, finishing behind his countryman Emmanuel Korir.
Hamish Peacock is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He has competed at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Summer Olympics.
Kenya competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's fourteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi is a Kenyan steeplechase runner. She won gold at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics and 2011 All-Africa Games, and bronze at the 2017 World Championships and 2012 African Championships in Athletics. At the Olympic Games, she won silver in Rio de Janeiro and bronze in Tokyo. As of August 2021, her personal best time of 9:00.01 ranks her 6th on the world all-time list.
The men's javelin throw at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 24 and 26 August.
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list behind Jan Železný. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
Magnus Kirt is an Estonian retired athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. His personal best of 90.61 m is the Estonian record.
In 2016, the foremost athletics events will be staged at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The two other major global level competitions in 2016 are the World Indoor Championships and World Half Marathon Championships.
Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete competing in javelin throw. He became the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal after he won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics. He was also the first Asian to win gold in the javelin throw event after his win at the 2023 World Championship.
Kenya has competed at every edition of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics since its inception in 1983. It has won the second highest number of gold medals at the championships and also has the second highest medals total.