Probe report casts Javelin star Yego as both hero and villain

Olympics silver medallist and world Javelin champion Julius Yego has been hailed both as a hero and villain in the Rio 2016 Probe Committee report- receiving the bouquet for withstanding adversity to bag the second medal on one hand and barbs for complaining about his ticket to Brazil on the other.

In one part of the report, the Probe Committee noted the difficulties Yego who was the only field athlete who made the Rio 2016 Olympics underwent in the build-up to the Games, being forced to travel to Brazil without his coach before injury forced him to accept the silver medal with a best throw of 88.24m behind German Thomas Rohler.

“The following coach was assigned the field events team, Joseph Mosonik. The athlete’s official camp was at the Kip Keino High Performance Training Camp. The camp was not the best of places for javelin training and Yego, together with his coach, raised the following concerns,” the report highlighted.

“The HPTC camp lacked proper gym equipment for javelin preparations. Yego had to pay for himself to use a better gym in Eldoret town. There was no arranged transport for the athlete to move from the camp to the Kip Keino stadium where he trained in throws. The athlete had to organise his own transport.

“The road to the camp is seasonal and was impassable on rainy days. The javelin runway at the Kip Keino Stadium was 23 metres, short by seven metres.  There was no regular nutritionist at the camp and this forced Yego to go home so as to fulfil his dietary needs,” it added.

“Despite a minor injury he had sustained from previous competitions he was able to train well. At the Games, however, he sustained another injury but it was after he had thrown an impressive 88.24 metres that was enough to earn him a silver medal, the first medal for Kenya in field events at the Olympics.

“The performance by Yego was outstanding considering that his coach, Mosonik, did not travel with him due to ticketing problems and arrived later with a few days to competition,” the report wrote in praise of the YouTube Man.

Before the Olympics however, Yego sparked national outrage when he took to social media on July 31 posting he had not been provided a ticket to travel despite ‘being a medal contender and world champion and that the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (Nock) were not acting in his interests and in the interests of Team Kenya.’

“However, the committee was able to establish that Mr. Yego had been indeed booked on Kenya Airways flight number KQ770 to Luanda, with the flight departing Nairobi at 09:00hrs and arriving in Luanda at 11:05hrs.

“The booking reference is ZKQQ2Q. From Luanda, Mr. Yego was booked on Angolan Airlines flight number DT741 departing Luanda at 14:00hrs and arriving in Rio de Janeiro at 18:15hrs.

“That Mr. Yego’s booking failed to show up in the airline system was not a fault of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, but a technical one attributed to the airline. The matter was quickly sorted out by the Kenya Airways technical staff and Mr. Yego was able to travel as scheduled. It was, therefore, unfair for Mr. Yego to blame the National Olympic Committee of Kenya for this technical error,” the report states.

Speaking to Citizen Digital on Tuesday, the 2015 Beijing Worlds champion remained adamant there was no one else to blame except Nock for his shambolic preparations for Rio and travel hitches.

“We have seen these officials in court already and who else can I blame?” he posed.