– Will the 82 meters finally go?
Timothy Herman, 32, was dreaming big after launching his javelin into the sky at the Nairobi Stadium in Kenya on Saturday (May 13). A result of 82 meters would have meant a record improvement of one and a half meters, a dream come true for an athlete recovering from a stress fracture of the spine. My own coach Johan Kloecki The Belgian record of 83.65 would also be just over a meter and a half away.
An emotional moment
When the scoreboard then read 87.35 – the final winning score of the competition before the two-time world champion Anderson Peterstriple the season’s world statistics and breaking the Belgian national record with 3.70 meters – the situation was emotionally violent and shocking for Herman, who had been chasing a perfect throw for 15 years.
– I asked the administrators that that result can’t be true, can it? They convinced me that it would work, Herman told Urheilu on Wednesday from his workplace in Ghent, Belgium.
When my own former record was 80.48 and behind me a total of six competition results over 79 meters, the confusion is understandable.
– Before the trip, the starting speeds of the javelin were measured in training, and the readings made it clear that I am at least approaching the fitness of my life. But you couldn’t expect that.
Amateur athlete
Nowadays, there are hardly any amateur athletes at the top of the world athletics statistics, but Herman, who describes himself as a lifestyle thrower and a javelin enthusiast, is exactly that.
When the Belgian athletics manager legend Wilfried Meert gave Urheilule Herman’s contact information, he reminded that interviews cannot be given during working hours from the loud and dangerous floor level of the foundry.
Due to his low starting level at the time, Herman didn’t even get a travel allowance for his coach to Nairobi, but he went to Kenya alone. The throws were filmed as a friend’s help by a Portuguese coach Carlos Tribuna.
The very extraordinary life situation for Herman’s elite athlete is best described by the events after the competition on Saturday evening.
Straight to the field
The racing teams went to the popular banquet of the Kip Keino Classics, i.e. WA Continental Gold Tour, to eat grilled antelope. Herman, on the other hand, started after a quick shower towards the airport in order to make it to Brussels in good time on Sunday and from there to Ghent, 55 kilometers away.
– On Monday morning I went to work at the foundry at 6 o’clock. This is how I support my family. If I’m off work, I don’t get paid for that time either.
Herman is a plant operator-mechanic repairer in an aluminum foundry that manufactures various parts for the process industry. Around 20,000 steps are accumulated during an average work shift along the large production premises, and there is enough work for the hands with various tools.
– I don’t get funding from society. If I continue to throw well this season, I might get a grant from the Ministry of Sports for next season, but it won’t be granted until November.
Herman uses the support of his own, small sponsors in full, for example for training camps, coach expenses and body care.
Although Belgium achieved a total of 15 athletics medals at the Tokyo Olympics, the World Championships in Eugene and the European Championships in Munich, the sport is financially small in the country, alongside football and cycling, for example.
A reasonable training program
When paid work is physical and the sport’s reputation as a health risk is the worst, the 32-year-old javelin thrower trains with reason, so to speak.
– Even though I eat healthily, go to bed early and don’t go to bars, due to the combination of paid work and javelin throwing, I am constantly in an under-recovered state. It must be taken into account in training programs.
Herman trains five times a week: twice with a javelin, twice we go to the weight room and once we train speed on the field.
In his long career, the man has toured competitions not only in his own country, but mostly in nearby areas in France, Holland and Germany, preferably on weekday evenings.
– I want to dedicate the weekends to my wife and two daughters.
Herman doesn’t know his next competition yet, but after the Giant in Nairobi, he can give his body the necessary recovery time.
The direct World Cup limit in Budapest was exceeded by more than two meters, and the Belgian, who debuted last year in the European Championships in Munich, will receive his World Cup baptism of fire in August. As the culmination of his career, he is planning the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
In Finland, Johan Kloecki, now the former Belgian record holder, and By Luc Vanmaldegem the thrower he coached has, strangely enough, only competed once, in Vaasa 2017. Now I would like to, but at least by Wednesday nothing had been offered. CEO of Turku’s Paavo Nurmi Games, a tough javelin event Jari Salonen stated to Urheilu that, on a general level, it is interesting to see where Herman’s result level will be after the freak performance.
Sports coach of the sports association Petteri Piironen Herman has been under surveillance for a long time.
– A really good-footed and fast thrower, for whom upper body strength levels have caused problems. There has been a mismatch.
Suddenly, many wondered if Herman received, for example, massive tailwinds in Nairobi, but that was not the case.
– Nairobi’s stadium is such that there are not a lot of them available. It was just a matter of complete success and no wind lottery. Such a record improvement (6.87 meters) is extremely rare when there is already a result of 80 meters at the bottom, says Piironen.
For example Tero Pitkämäki improved his record by 5.60 meters when he threw a record 91.53 in the summer of 2005.
In June 2013, Pitkämäki bit a tooth while recovering from rib surgery in the stands, when Tuomas Laaksonen threw 81.73 and improved his record by 6.52 meters, which reached storm readings. On Pitkämäki, under those conditions, there would have been enough oats for up to 92–93 meters.
The biggest annual event in Belgian athletics is the Diamond League competition Ivo van Damme Memorial, but its program does not typically include the men’s javelin.
– The most lucrative level is the Flanders cup, where you get about 50 euros for winning a competition, Herman laughs.
Timothy Herman says that he knows Finnish javelin history and the status of the sport very well. Pitkämäki was even a role model for him and Blacksmith A rag an interesting character anyway. To the two namesakes, that is Aki Parviainen and Antti Ruuskanen he met in Portugal more than a decade ago.
Basic level up to 82 meters
– Aki coached me then. Herman came to ask, can you train with us (you will switch to another service) with us and without anything else got. A really nice guy who wanted to learn and had really explosive legs. The upper body was still thin and the man was young. It was a nice training day, Ruuskanen recalls.
He follows the continuation of the Belgian season with interest.
– A smart guy, if he rests properly now. That throw has made the body hard. It would be a big win if he could stabilize the level at 82–83 meters this season. From there, that big law would be possible again.