How David Rudisha helped Julius Yego get back to his best

When a top performing athlete suddenly goes silent or performs poorly, only a few people will bother to find out why and and go through the trouble of finding out where they are.

Many are left to speculate on the reasons, good or bad. Who would know about Julius Yego’s troubles.

The history-making 2015 World javelin champion almost lost it after he sustained a groin injury during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

It took the invention of the two-time Olympic 800m champion and world record holder David Rudisha to rescue Yego who was almost turning away from javelin.

On just his first throw, a field lead 88.24 metres, the smoking hot Yego, sustained a groin injury.

Yego, who became the first Kenyan to win the Commonwealth Games javelin title and the second African at the 2014 “Club “Games in Glasgow, Scotland, was taken off the field on a wheelchair and in tears.

Yego watched the rest of the final on August 20, 2016 at the medical wing as Thomas Röhler from Germany hauled his fifth and second last throw of 90.30m that eventually won the championship.

The doctors would give Yego at least six months before you could start competing again.

 “That is when my problems started. I have had tough moments since then. The physicians told me that the tear in the groin would take time to heal,” recalled Yego at the Kenya team camp at MISC, Kasarani this week.

“That meant that I would only return to training after February 2017.”

However, as an athlete, Yego, the first Kenyan to win a field event at a world championship with his exploits in 2015 Beijing, was eager to dust his javelin throw and return to the runaway.

“As an athlete, you tend to think you are okay and rush things when the pain isn’t there. You try something stupid and end up aggravating the injury. That is what happened to me,” said Yego.

Yego said that he was so frustrated that he had considered quitting the sport altogether.

The injury saw Yego struggle to finish 13th at the 2017 London World Athletics Championships and failed to register any score after reaching the final of the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.

His first three throws went off the course.

Yego failed to go past the preliminary rounds at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games last year.

“I was really down. Quite a few people knew what I was going through. I was losing focus pretty fast. Any time I went back to training, the pain in the groin recurred yet I didn’t want to tell anyone about it save for my doctors,” said Yego.

“I just had to keep a smile on my face and not show the world that I wasn’t able to compete yet inside I was losing it,” “said Yego, adding that the only time he tried to make a comeback despite the discomfort in the groin was when he won the African Games title in 2019 in a Championship Record throw of 87.73m.

“I told myself I have to reach out to people who have come from injury to make it. Then Rudisha came to my mind,” said Yego, adding that getting to speak to Rudisha, who overcame a knee injury to retain his Olympic title at the 2016 Rio Summer Games, did the trick.

Yego said that besides Rudisha, getting to interact with 2016 Rio Olympics steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto over the last two months has also helped him.

Kipruto has slowly regained his form having recovered from an injury just in time to defend his world title in Oregon, United States.

The injury prevented Kipruto from defending his Olympic title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics last year.

“Conseslus and I have encouraged and pushed each other. I am happy he is able to run well again,” said Yego, who is happy to announce his return, having won his fourth Africa title last month in Mauritius.

Yego has been named the Team Kenya captain for the World Athletics Championships that starts on Friday at Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon, United States and Commonwealth Games due for July 28 to August 9 in Birmingham, England.

“My body is okay now, I feel healthy, having regained my strength, speed and fitness,” said Yego as he worked on his techniques at Kasarani ahead of departure to Oregon Tuesday.

Yego is hoping to make the final on his fifth appearance at the world event but reckons that competition will be stiff with nine throwers registering over 87m efforts this year.

“Anything can happen in the final but it’s my dream to win the world title again. I know what it takes since it will need that big single throw and the rest will take care of itself,” said Yego, who has a season best of 80.62m from the Kenyan trials on June 25.

The reigning World javelin champion Anderson Peters from Grenada has a world lead of 93.07m from Doha Diamond League on May 13.