PARIS, France, Aug 9 – Kenya’s greatest javelin thrower of all time Julius Yego says the support system of athletes prior to gigantic championships needs to change for the better.
The 2015 World Champion wrapped up Paris Olympics in 5th place after throwing a season best of 87.72m, highlighting some technical challenges he believes could have been avoided.
The Rio 2016 Olympics silver medallist, says he resorted to Google Translate with a local coach in Miramas due to language barrier, something he believes impeded his progress.
“For me, I don’t want to talk about it anymore because if I do, it becomes an issue. But I hope it will change because the level of competion is very high,” the record five-time African Champion said after her competition.
He added, “I see many complaints back home about us, but I think we just need to be appreciated for where we have reached.”
“Everything keeps changing with time. Training trends are changing. The approach to competition has really changed. For me, I did it alone to where I am today. I’m happy I’ll go home, celebrate and join my family,” Yego said.
The 35-year-old began with a throw of 80.29m but improved to 87.72 to briefly occupy the bronze medal slot before two-time world champion Anderson Peters overthrew him with a 88.54m throw.
After three more attempts, Yego did not beat the 87.72 of the second attempt, bowing out with head held high.
Pakistani Arshad Nadeem became the surprise new Olympics champion with a new Olympics record of 92.97m.
India’s Neeraj Chopra, Tokyo’s gold medalist, took silver Lso with a season’s best 89.45m
“I expected stiff competition. Like I said, during qualifications that in the finals you need to throw 90 meters to get a medal. And you saw today (Thursday), very tough competition. It’s the best ever in my career. You know somebody with 88.50m not even getting a bronze medal it shows how high the competition is. I’m going home a happy man I think I should go and celebrate considering where I have been this season, so can’t complain.”
–Yego oozed confidence and wentfor all six throws–
“Ccongratulations to the winner, it’s the first time that we are having a European champion and no European athlete in the top three, so that goes to show that javelin has really evolved and gone global. But if you see the support system around these athletes, is quite big. I think for me, it was a joke that I was in this Olympics,” Yego said..
Yego says India and some countries in Asia have invested heavily in javelin hence the good results in Paris.
He added: “The difference is always about the support system. Their athletes will have the support system, they’ll be there to compete at a high level. India has really invested in javelin.”
“When Chopra came in to the limelight, they really invested into it. You can see the technology they adopted is from Germany. They are using the same German equipment at the moment and that is the difference, it just about infrastructure and development of the sport. We can’t contine the same way we ae doing things, we will continue losing.”
Asked about next year’s World Championship, Yego commented: “I don’t have to change my training. So, I really have to continue with the same kind of training. You know what really happens is when I got injured, the treatment took a toll on me finically. I really had to be helped to compete here. That’s the part where I say I complained.”
-Julius Yego Fact File-
Name: Julius Yego
Sport: Javelin
Born: January 4, 1989
Weight: 96kgs
Height: 5.8ft
Personal best
Javelin Throw: 92.72m (Beijing 2015)
Finished 12 th at the London Olympic Games
Finished second at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
Finished 24 th at the Tokyo Olympic Games
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Paris, France-
