Julius Yego (born 4 January 1989) is a Kenyan

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who competes in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record and Commonwealth record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m. He won the javelin title at the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa ( ...

in 2011 and at the

African Championships in Athletics The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organis ...

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 The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

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

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Biography

Yego was born in Cheptonon (Soba River) location in Tinderet,

Nandi District Nandi County is a county in Kenya in the North Rift, occupying an area of 2,884.4 square kilometres. Its capital, Kapsabet, is the largest town in the county while other towns include Mosoriot, Tinderet, Kobujoi, Kaiboi, Kabiyet and Nandi H ...

. He attended high school at Kapsabet Boys High School. Yego became interested in the javelin throw as a youth and later he watched videos of athletes such as

Jan Železný Jan Železný (; born 16 June 1966) is a Czech former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World and Olympic champion and holds the world record with a throw of . Widely considered to be the greatest javelin thrower ...

and

Andreas Thorkildsen Andreas Thorkildsen (born 1 April 1982) 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 fi ...

to help with his technique and to learn how to train at a gym.JTM TALK WITH JULIUS YEGO, KENYAN JAVELIN THROWER
Javelin Thrower Magazine (2012-04-24). Retrieved on 2012-05-03. 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. He won his first national title in the javelin at the age of nineteen in 2008 and defended it in both 2009 and 2010. 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 The 2010 African Championships in Athletics was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 28 July to 1 August 2010. Background The African Championships in Athletics were held in Kenya for the first time. Previously two major athletics events have been held i ...

, which was held in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...

. He improved his best to 75.44 m at the Kenyan Commonwealth trials. He travelled to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

for the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

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 The 10th All-Africa Games took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent. Host awarding In April 2005, Lusaka, Zambia was named th ...

and became Kenya's first ever champion in the event, throwing a Kenyan national record mark of 78.34 m.Makori, Elias (2011-09-17)
Rare medals for Kenya as curtain falls on 10th All Africa Games
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-09-17. This bettered

Paul Lagat Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

's fourteen-year-old national record (78.20 m). In respect of this achievement the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

(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 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. After two months of training at the IAAF-accredited centre in

Kuortane Kuortane is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The neighboring municipalities of Kuortane are A ...

, 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. He improved the Kenyan record at

Finnish Elite Games Series Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See al ...

event in

on 22 July 2012, Finland throwing 81.12 metres During the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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 Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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. ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runnin ...

'' ranked Yego fifth in the world that year, the first time he'd been ranked in the top 10. Yego won the javelin at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, beating the reigning Olympic champion,

Keshorn Walcott Keshorn "Keshie" Walcott, ORTT (born 2 April 1993) is a Trinidadian 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 A ...

, with a distance of 83.87 m. Yego was the first Kenyan athlete to win a Commonwealth title in a field event. He won a second gold later that summer at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships ;Athletics * African Championships in At ...

, throwing a season best 84.72 m and defeating world leader

Ihab Abdelrahman El-Sayed Ihab El Sayed Abdelrahman (born 1 May 1989) is an Egyptian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best of 89.21 m is the Egyptian record. El Sayed splits his time between Kuortane, Finland, where his coach Pet ...

of Egypt. 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. On 4 June he improved to 87.71 m at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pi ...

in Rome, placing second behind

Vítězslav Veselý Vítězslav Veselý () (born 27 February 1983) is a Czech javelin thrower. He won two bronze medals at the Olympic games, in 2012 and 2020. Career He finished ninth at the 2002 World Junior Championships. He threw a personal best throw of 81.20 ...

. Three days later, Yego won at the

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Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, 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. On 26 August Yego won the gold medal at 2015 World Championships with a throw of 92.72m. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in

, Yego won silver with a throw of 88.24 m, despite only throwing once after picking up a right ankle injury.

International competition record

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. They have two sons, Jarvis and Finn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yego, Julius Living people 1989 births People from Nandi County Kenyan male javelin throwers Olympic athletes of Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 All-Africa Games African Championships in Athletics winners World Athletics Championships winners African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics