On August 26th, Kenyan native Julius Yego won gold in the men’s javelin throw event at the World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. His winning distance of 92.72 meters set an African record and was the longest throw in 14 years. Yego, however, is no ordinary javelin thrower. As The Washington Post and other outlets have reported, he does not have a coach; instead, he augments his training by watching javelin videos on YouTube.
Yego’s reliance on YouTube is not a new development. In the early stages of his professional career, he used videos to study the techniques of master javelin throwers like Andreas Thorkildsen and world record holder Jan Železný. “I watched YouTube and it really paid off for me, to see the training techniques and skills they are using,” he told CNN in a 2013 profile. He also discussed his unusual training method in a video produced for the 2012 Olympics. In London, Yego made it out of the qualifying round and finished 12th.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Yego is not the first athlete to use YouTube to assist his career in high-level athletics. Håvard Rugland, a Norwegian placekicker, caught the attention of NFL teams when he showed off some absurd “trick shots” in a YouTube video called “Kickalicious.” Rugland ultimately earned a contract with the Detroit Lions in 2013, though he did not make the team’s opening day roster.
Yego’s accomplishments in his sport have already surpassed Rugland’s. He’s likely to be one of the favorites in the javelin throw event at 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio di Janeiro. I’ll certainly be rooting for him to take gold.
