Julius Yego

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Julius Yego athletics

Julius Yego Beijing 2015.jpg
Julius Yego 2015 in Beijing

Full name Julius Kiplagat Yego
nation KenyaKenya Kenya
birthday 4th January 1989
place of birth Soba River,  Kenya
size 173 cm
Weight 76 kg
job police officer
Career
discipline Javelin throw
Best performance 92.72 m Sport records icon AF.svg
National squad since 2008
status active
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
World championships 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Commonwealth Games 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Africa Games 2 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
African Championships 3 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Olympic rings Olympic games
silver 2016 Rio de Janeiro 88.24 m
IAAF logo World championships
gold 2015 Beijing 92.72 m
Commonwealth Games Federation logo Commonwealth Games
gold 2014 Glasgow 83.87 m
Africa Games logo Africa Games
gold 2011 Maputo 78.34 m
gold 2019 Rabat 87.73 m
 African Championships
bronze 2010 Nairobi 74.51 m
gold 2012 Porto Novo 76.68 m
gold 2014 Marrakech 84.72 m
gold 2018 Asaba 77.34 m
last change: August 30, 2019

Julius Kiplagat Yego (born January 4, 1989 in Cheptonon , Kenya ) is a Kenyan athlete . In 2012 he was the first Kenyan javelin thrower at the Olympic Games. He is world champion, Africa record holder and three-time African champion.

Athletic career

Yego grew up as the son of a farmer in the western Kenyan region of Nandi . While he was tending his father's cattle, he passed the time throwing sticks. As a result, he emulated his older brother in school and began throwing the javelin . Due to the limited training opportunities in Kenya, where medium and long-distance running dominate athletics, he learned the right technique with the help of internet videos, among other things. According to his own statement, he was particularly motivated by YouTube videos by world-class athletes Jan Železný , Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkämäki . In the media, he was later nicknamed The YouTube Athlete .

After numerous national successes, he won his first international medal in third place at the 2010 African Championships in Nairobi . In the same year he finished seventh at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi . He won the 2011 African Games in Maputo with a new national record of 78.34 m. In preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games in London , he received a scholarship from the World Athletics Federation for six months of training in Sweden .

In 2012 Yego won the title at the African Championships in Porto-Novo and also qualified for the Olympic Games in London, where he finished twelfth. At the World Championships in Moscow in 2013 he only just missed a sensation when he finished fourth despite a new personal best of 85.40 m; before the last round he was still on the bronze rank. The following year, Yego won the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow . He also successfully defended his title at the 2014 African Championships in Marrakech .

In 2015, he increased his personal best three times within two weeks. First he won the Golden Spike Meeting on May 26th in Ostrava with 86.88 m, on June 4th at the Diamond League meeting in Rome with 87.71 m he finished second behind Vítězslav Veselý , who he was three Days later he was able to beat the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham , where he set a new Diamond League record and an African record with 91.39 m .

During the 2015 World Championships in Beijing , he achieved the world’s best performance for the year and a new African record of 92.72 m, the first world title for an African in the javelin throw. This is particularly significant as the Kenyan flag features a Maasai shield with crossed spears. With this distance he is also one of the best five in the all-time best list in javelin throw. It should be noted, however, that this list only includes top performances from September 20, 1991. The specifications of the spear were changed several times, most recently at the IAAF Congress in Tokyo in August 1991.

In the 2016 season, Yego delivered solid but not outstanding results. His best performance in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was a second place at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene with a width of 84.68 m. In the final of the Olympic Games he managed a significant increase to 88.24 m, with which he initially took the lead. However, after an injury in the second round, he did not get another valid throw and after the fourth round he gave up further attempts. The German Thomas Röhler (90.30 m) pushed him to the silver rank in the fifth round. This marked the first Olympic medal in history for Kenya that was not won in a running discipline or boxing.

At the 2017 World Championships in London, Yego qualified for the final. There, however, he did not exceed a width of 76.29 m, with which he took 13th and last place. At the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast, he was eliminated from the qualification with a width of only 74.55 m. In the same year he achieved his third title win at the African Championships in Asaba after 2012 and 2014. In the comparatively weak competition he was 77.34 m enough to win.

After mixed performances in the past two years, Yego won the title at the 2019 African Games in Rabat with a throw of 87.73 m . His lead over the runner-up was over ten meters.

Web links

Commons : Julius Yego  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicolas Diekmann: I was there too . The daily mirror. August 11, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ Machua Koinange: Julius Yego, the YouTube athlete who captained Kenya to Moscow glory ( English ) Standard Digital. August 24, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ Julius Yego talks to SPIKES about his javelin dream ( English ) IAAF. December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Elias Makori: Rare medals for Kenya as curtain falls on 10th All Africa Games ( English ) IAAF. September 17, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  5. ^ William Njuguna: Yego lands IAAF scholarship to train in Sweden ( English ) The Star. December 6, 2011. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved on December 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ Speer: Gold for European Champion Vesely . Time online. August 17, 2013. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved on December 28, 2014.
  7. ↑ Javelin Throw Series Result - 14th IAAF World Championships ( English ) IAAF. August 17, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  8. ↑ Mirko Jalava, A Lennart Julin: 2014 end-of-year reviews - throws ( English ) IAAF. December 26, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ Phil Minshull: Preview: men's javelin - Rio 2016 Olympic Games ( English ) IAAF. August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ Phil Minshull: Report: men's javelin final - Rio 2016 Olympic Games ( English ) IAAF. August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  11. ↑ Rio Olympics 2016: Germany's Thomas Rohler wins javelin gold, 'YouTube man' Julius Yego silver ( English ) BBC. August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ Cathal Dennehy, Mike Rowbottom: Ta Lou and Yego eager to end the season on a high - IAAF Continental Cup Ostrava 2018 ( English ) IAAF. September 7, 2018. Accessed December 9, 2018.
  13. ↑ Yemi Olus: Bass upsets Ta Lou at 200m as African Games conclude in Rabat ( English ) IAAF. August 31, 2019. Accessed September 21, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Yego, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Yego, Julius Kiplagat
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Kenyan javelin thrower
DATE OF BIRTH 4th January 1989
PLACE OF BIRTH Soba River, Nandi District