Julius Yego Reveals Why Men’s Javelin in Kenya Will Suffer When He Retires

Former world javelin champion Julius Yego has slammed the attitude of a number of upcoming stars in the sport who he accuses of lacking the right spirit to succeed.

Yego has been flying Kenya’s flag in the sport for close to 15 years and won numerous medals despite starting out as a self-taught athlete and lacking the necessary equipment and training.

The 36-year-old is headed to his seventh World Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September but as he edges closer to exiting the scene, he is worried that there is no man who has shown that he is capable of filling his big shoes.

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“The men’s side, the level is not very encouraging, they need to be serious at times,” Yego told Pulse Sports on the sidelines of the Athletics Kenya World Championships trials.

“We have very good athletes who have joined us in training but I think maybe they are very overambitious; they want to do it immediately when they come to training.

“Field events is a process, all technical events are a process, it takes time for you to acquire and master the technique, so when you get it well, everything is easy.”

Yego is concerned that the young Kenyan javelin throwers go into the sport thinking its all about having a big body when technique is what makes the difference.

“Javelin is not about power, it is about technique because the strongest men in the world be throwing javelin anyway,” added Yego.

“The implement is just less than a kilo but what is exciting is how to make it go far. It is 800 grams for men and 500 grams for ladies so it is about mastering the technique, how to release it and how to make it go further.”

Yego has made headlines in the sport since teaching himself how to throw the javelin by watching videos online, which earned him the nickname Mr YouTube, and it has brought him a world title in 2015, Olympics silver in 2016, Commonwealth gold as well as five African titles.