Meet Julius Yego, the Rio 2016 Olympian who self-taught himself javelin throwing.
The Kenyan track and field athlete Julius Yego has become a worldwide sensation known as “The YouTube Man” after people learn his journey all the way to the Olympics.
The 2015 world champion became an internet sensation after the history of his struggle was made public. Julius Yego first discovered his love and talent for javelin early on in life. Despite his father’s disapproval, Yego started competing at his village’s primary school, located five miles from his home. Not being able to purchase javelins himself, he started making them himself out of tree branches.
As Yego grew, so did his passion. And with ambitions of pursuing a professional career, he was disappointed to learn that there was no one nearby to coach him, neither was there a proper field for him to practice at.
Out of desperation and love for the sport he had been secretly practicing from his father, Yego turned to the internet to develop his skills. He started spending time at the local cyber cafe, and watch javelin throwing videos on YouTube to learn new techniques.
Julius Yego was the first ever Kenyan to be qualified for a Olympic field event, with a personal record of 92.71 meters. Throughout his career, Yego has held the All-African Games title in 2011, as well as the African Championships in Athletics title in 2012 and 2014, and the 2015 World Championship.
