Julius Yego: It’s more or less the same, the story of the most javelin throwers other than those who 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 come 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 neraj was finding it tough, you helped him Relax

Julius Yego: It is a culture we have had had in the javelin and I also came to realize that even in the short 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 camera up taro pitkamaki was my idol. I watched youtube videos of pitkamaki and Andreas Thorkildsen. When I am competed, I saw that they really supported Each Other.i Remember in my first appearance in the Olympics in 2012, I had the oportunity to speak with Thorkildsen and that he told me your TIME. 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 felow competitors especially in field events. What we love most in field events, especially in javelin, is the long throws. If your felow competitor is having a 90 meter throw and you are not do it at that moment you just cheer up, show your support care your time 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 Bengali. (Photo: Neeraj Chopra Classic via x)

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

Julius Yego: I think there are new talents Coming up the 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 (smit peters) from south africa doing 84 meters.

Read more | Neeraj Chopra Classic: What impact does throwing javelin beyond 90m has on the body? Thomas rohler, Julius Yega Break it down

In kenya, which is a running country, has infrastructure improken for javelin?

Julius Yego: On the equipment part, yes it has really changed because 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 something that you need to change because I cannot throw like jan zelezny. I can’t 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?

Julius Yego: There is a collaboration with a website, invictussport.coach where I encourse 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 improvened his throws after the little feedback I give him. From India, they (budding athletes) just write to me on instagram. Indians like Instagram. But something is different to reply to all of them because of the nature of the sport, something you are busy. When I get time, I tell them this is what you are supposed to do. But it’s different when you just say it. When you have the video (of the throws) it’s the best thing you can advise property and help someone.