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Neeraj Chopra and my story more or less the same, say Africa’s trailblazer Julius Yego

The 36-year-old trailblazer from Kenya, who picked up javelin techniques originally by watching YouTube videos, spoke to The Indian Express about the rise of non-European throwers and the camaraderie in the community. He finished 2nd at the Neeraj Chopra classic on Saturday.

(From left) Julius Yego, Neeraj Chopra and Rumesh Tharanga on the podium at the NC Classic (Photo credit: JSW Sports)

Juilus Yego made history when he became the first African world champion in the men’s javelin throw in 2015. Hailing from Kenya, a long-distance powerhouse, Yego is an outlier in the field event and in that aspect he relates to Neeraj Chopra’s meteoric rise in Indian athletics. At the NC Classic on Saturday, Yego was consistently at the 80m mark and finished second with a new Season Best throw of 84.51m. The 36-year-old, who picked up the sport by watching YouTube videos, spoke to The Indian Express about the rise of non-European throwers and the camaraderie in the javelin-thrower community.

You were the breakout javelin start in Kenya, so is Neeraj in India. Do you see similarities?

It’s more or less the same, the story of most javelin throwers other than those from Europe. Europe’s infrastructure is very good. So if you see my story, you see the story of Neeraj Chopra, even you see the story of Anderson Peters from Grenada, and even (Arshad) Nadeem himself. We have the talent, but the problem comes of course with the infrastructure, training facilities.

Decathlon athletes have a close bond. What about javelin throwers?. At the Lausanne Diamond League last year when Neeraj was finding it tough, you helped him relax.

It is a culture we have had in the javelin and I also came to realize that even in the shot put and in the pole vault it exists. World record holder (Mondo) Duplantis and the group are really close friends. They always cheer for him when a world record is broken. Even in javelin, when I came up Tero Pitkamaki was my idol. I watched YouTube videos of Pitkamaki and Andreas Thorkildsen. When I competed, I saw that they really supported each other.I remember in my first appearance in the Olympics in 2012, I had the opportunity to speak with Thorkildsen and then he told me: ‘Your time will come. The only thing you need to do is just be patient.’ I came to realize that it is the reality of the sport. The main thing is the support you get from your fellow competitors, especially in field events. What we love most in field events, especially in javelin, is the long throws. If your fellow competitor is having a 90m throw and you are not able to do it at that moment, you just cheer up, show your support because your time will come. And when you will be throwing that far, you will need their support.

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Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra with javelin thrower Julius Yego and Rio Olympics champion Thomas Rohler in Bengaluru. (PHOTO: Neeraj Chopra Classic via X)

Has javelin gained popularity in Kenya after your feats at the world level?

I think there are new talents coming up, especially in javelin, even among the ladies, we have young throwers coming up. At the moment, we have a Kenyan girl who has thrown nearly 60 meters. Hopefully, she will be at the world championships. Even in other countries, we have very good javelin throwers coming up. You saw in Nigeria, we had an athlete going to the Olympics in the men’s javelin last year and he (Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi) won the All African Games. He beat me. You can see the level is picking up. Last week also in Ostrava I saw a javelin thrower (Douw Smit) from South Africa doing 84 meters.

In Kenya, which is a running country, has infrastructure improved for javelin?

On the equipment part, yes, it has really changed because when we had the World Under-17 championship in Nairobi, there was a bit of change. We had the equipment coming to Nairobi, and then of course we had the World Under-20 also and then of course the Kip Keino Classic. So you had to have the equipment. But on the coaching side, I think we need to have a very good level. Coaching in technical events requires a lot of changes. That is something I have said back home that we need to change our mode of coaching. Javelin is a technical event, but then there are some things that you need to change because I cannot throw like Jan Zelezny. I cannot throw like Neeraj Chopra and Chopra cannot throw like me. So you need somebody who understands these basic technical things.

You started off by watching YouTube videos. So, when you are back home, are you involved in coaching?

There is a collaboration with a website, invictussport.coach where I encourage young athletes to send their videos there, and then I will give them feedback. I am happy to say that last week an athlete from the USA – his name is Jason – was number four in the national championship in his category. He was really buzzing with pride that he improved his throws after the little feedback I gave him. From India, they (budding athletes) just write to me on Instagram. Indians like Instagram. But sometimes it’s difficult to reply to all of them because of the nature of the sport, and sometimes you are busy. When I get time, I tell them this is what you are supposed to do. But it’s difficult when you just say it. When you have the video (of the throws) it’s the best thing because you can advise properly and help someone.