Julius Yego

Julius Kiplagat Yego (born 4 January 1989) is a Kenyan athlete. In 2012, he was the first Kenyan javelin thrower in the Olympics at all. He is a multiple Kenyan champions, national record holder and 2012 was African champions.

Sports career

Yego grew up as the son of a farmer in Nandi District. While he tended the cattle, he passed the time with the throwing of sticks. As a result, he was zealous in the school his older brother after and began the javelin. Because of the limited training opportunities in Kenya, where the middle and long distance running dominate the Athletics, he learned the proper technique includes the use of Internet videos. In his own words motivated him especially YouTube videos of world-class athletes in January Zelezny, Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkämäki. In the media he was therefore later dubbed with the nickname The YouTube Athelete.

After numerous national successes he achieved third place in the Africa Athletics Championships 2010 Nairobi his first international medal. In the same year he finished in seventh place at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The Pan-African Games 2011 in Maputo, he won with a new national record of 78.34 m. In preparation for the 2012 Olympics, he received from the World Athletics Association a scholarship for a six-month training in Sweden.

2012 Yego won the title at the Africa Championships in Porto Novo and also qualified for the London Olympics, where he finished in twelfth place. At the World Athletics Championships 2013 in Moscow, he just missed a sensation when he finished fourth despite a new personal best of 85.40 m at the end; before the last round he had stood on the bronze medal.