Kenyan javelin star has revealed his admiration for one of his main rivals, Pakistan’s , who beat him to win gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nadeem made headlines when he claimed Olympics gold following an astonishing throw of 92.7m at the Olympics, beating defending and world champion Neeraj Chopra of India to silver, to send his home into delirium.

However, which is why Yego is full of praise for him as their stories are similar.

Kenya’s javelin great Julius Yego has set big targets for himself in 2025 as he looks to bounce back in a major way after injuries and poor form made his 2024 season difficult.

Yego learned javelin by watching clips on YouTube, earning him the name “Mr YouTube” and also struggled with where to train, lack of a coach and did not have a proper javelin for long.

He, however, overcame all those to win a world title in 2015, Olympics silver in 2016 and five African titles. Now, Nadeem seems to be following in his footsteps.

Before reaching the Olympics, Nadeem needed help from his community to raise funds for him to attend training and competitions as this was beyond his means.

Former world javelin champion Julius Yego is saddened by the lack of support for non-track athletes in Kenya and feels the country will struggle in field events once he retires.

Earlier this year, he sent an appeal for a new javelin and help arrived from an unlikely source, when Chopra, the man he would come to beat at the Olympics, came to his aid.

“I respect Nadeem for his exploits and he is a talent, a young talent who has achieved a lot,” Yego told

“His success proves that no matter the little resources you have, it is still worth it, despite the many that others may have for training. Utilise what you have and success will come,” he added.

Neeraj Chopra has recounted what Julius Yego told him to propel him to a second-place finish at the Diamond League Meeting Lausanne amid injury woes.

who finished fifth at the Olympics after a season’s best throw of 87.72m, has also had to deal with injuries that nearly saw him miss the Olympics, the same setbacks that Nadeem experienced heading prior to the Games.

He dealt with elbow and back issues and had knee surgery last year. Despite all this, he still brought glory to Pakistan when he became the first athlete from the country to win an

Following his win, Pakistan celebrated Nadeem in a special way, awarding him a total of 250 million rupees (Ksh115.7 million) from various sources.

Pakistan has handed newly-crowned Olympics javelin champion Arshad Nadeem one of the highest rewards in history following his heroics at the Paris 2024 Games.

As per Associated Press, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced 150 million rupees (Ksh69,402,000) for Nadeem at a special ceremony to honour the star athlete in the capital Islamabad.

Sharif’s announcement came hours after Punjab’s Chief Minister Mariam Nawaz visited Nadeem’s house in a village in the Mian Channu district and presented him with a cheque for 100 million rupees (Ksh46,311,000).

Nawaz also handed him the keys to a new car which has a special registration number of “PAK 92.97” to commemorate Nadeem’s throw of 92.97m in Paris, which was an Olympic record.

Yego hopes to regain best form ahead of the World Championships later this year.

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