The 2015 world Javelin champion and Rio 2016 Olympics silver medalist, Julius Yego, attained a direct qualification to the men’s Javelin final at the ongoing Olympic Games in Paris after throwing a season’s best 85.97m in his third attempt.
“Qualification is always a bit tense because for you to be in the final, you need to get automatic qualification and today it was too high at 84m,” said a pleased Yego in the mixed zone.
“I knew to get that 84 was really possible when I woke up. I had a good feeling from last week in my last training session, it was really nice – same like today.”
Yego’s first attempt landed at 78.84m, he went a notch high in his second when he registered 80.76m before landing the qualification standard in his third throw thereby getting the pressure off his shoulders.
Yego credits his performance to his training in Miramas – a high-performance training camp facilitated by the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK).
“Miramas was a good place to train especially me, it was the best decision for me to come to Miramas, we were really focusing on the technique and the speed.”
Yego capitalizes on his speed.
“My strength in javelin is the speed because I am not a power thrower, so I get my speed right and technique, you know that block I am lucky that I have a very good block amongst the javelin throwers so this is what I really needed to get it back and I am happy it is back.”
The Javelin final will be on the Thursday night at 21.25 EAT. Julius Yego will go against the reigning Olympic champion and World champion Neeraj Chopra of India, two-time world champion Peter Anderson among others.
The 35-year-old aims to better the silver medal he won in Rio 2016 with a throw of 88.24m. Yego was in contention for the gold medal until the fourth round when he twisted his left ankle and was carried out of the stadium in a wheelchair.
“So, let’s pray to God we throw a bigger one on Thursday, to have a good throw. You know over 90m you become a winner, Javelin nowadays has really transformed, if you want to win in a championship like this – you need a big throw,” Yego said.
Yego, nicknamed YouTube Man, is a five-time African Champion, two-time African Games champion with his latest African accolade being silver from the 2023 African Games, a medal he won March. Yego is the African record holder in javelin with a personal best distance of 92.72m.
Yego, competing in his fourth Olympic Games, qualified for Paris 2024 based on the World Athletics rankings, with his confirmation coming after the qualifying window elapsed on 30th June.
“I needed to get the direct qualification and I have made. I really needed to be able to prove that I am still able to do it and this throw today has made me to think maybe I still have more years to throw because I didn’t struggle with the throw.
“The feeling is back and for me I am really excited to have a season’s best and after a very long time to go over 85 metres. I’m really happy you can see.”
Despite having a bumpy run while chasing the qualification from injury, lack of support and sponsorship, his performance at the Stade De France has inspired him to keep fight in the sport.
His appeal is for sponsors and well-wishers to come on board to help upcoming javelin throwers to attain their dream.
“I love the sport itself; you know I wish we had many young Kenyans coming to compete in the javelin because I am almost exiting, we have throwers yes but they are not doing so well to be able to compete in the Olympics like this and the world championships.”
“I really need to see someone who will come up or a corporate coming up to sponsor javelin alone. I have really done what I can do, there is nothing more I can do about it.”
Yego just like Omanyala have dared to dream by chattering into unchartered waters.
“I have opened the way like Ferdinand has done in the sprints, so it means we have talent and we are capable of doing so well in these events but we don’t have that support. And when I say support, it is real support, not just talking,” Yego concluded.
