EXPLAINER
Al Jazeera’s lowdown on the 17-year-old sprinter of South Sudanese heritage who’s drawing comparisons with Usain Bolt.
Gout Gout, a 17-year-old Australian sprinter, has taken the world by storm following his record-breaking runs within the nation’s faculty and national-level athletics championships over the previous six months.
His electrical pace, lithe type on the observe, and cheerful manner have drawn comparisons with a number of the biggest athletes of all time, together with Jamaica’s Usain Bolt.
Gout won the Australian 200-metre men’s title with a wind-assisted timing of 19.84 seconds on the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth on Sunday.
Right here’s what you could know concerning the younger dash sensation and why he could possibly be the following worldwide observe and discipline celebrity.
Who’s Gout Gout?
Born to Monica and Bona on December 29, 2007, he’s one in every of seven siblings within the Gout household who migrated to Australia from South Sudan in 2005 and settled within the jap state of Queensland.
In Gout’s hometown Ipswich, Queensland, his faculty’s skilled observe and discipline coach Diane Sheppard swiftly took the younger boy beneath her wing upon recognizing his expertise.
His first style of success got here on the age of 13, when he received the 100-metre and 200-metre races in a faculty competitors, however the lanky teenager remained humble and earned plaudits from his coach.
“My largest factor with the youngsters is about being humble, and he has bought it in bucket masses,” Sheppard informed Australian Athletics in 2022.
Regardless of his speedy rise on the observe, it was not till December 2024 that the remainder of the world took discover of his prodigious expertise.
YOU GOUT TO BE KIDDING! 💥⚡
20.05 for World Lead ✅
19.98 (+3.6) within the ultimate for the quickest ever time by an Aussie in all circumstances ✅If Gout Gout hadn’t already despatched a thunderous message to the sprinting world, he has now on the Queensland State Championships. Extra to… pic.twitter.com/tR4Rt64Khc
— Australian Athletics (@AustralianAths) March 16, 2025
What number of races has Gout received?
Over the previous three years, he has dominated the 100m and 200m races in Australia’s age-group athletics championships, profitable gold in each classes because the age of 15.
The 1.83-metre (6-foot) athlete additionally received the 200m gold on the Oceania U18 Athletics Championships in 2024.
Which data have Gout damaged?
When Gout clocked 20.04 seconds within the 200m race on the Australian All Colleges Championships in December 2024, he grew to become the quickest U16 200m runner in historical past. Within the course of, he surpassed Bolt’s time of 20.13 and have become the second-fastest 200m male athlete ever within the under-18 class.
On the identical competitors, Gout received the 100m ultimate in 10.17 seconds and broke the Australian U18 file.
He’s FLYING 😱
17-year-old Gout Gout blazes to 19.84 (+2.2) to win the senior males’s 200m on the Australian Athletics Championships 😤
📸 @caseysims_ pic.twitter.com/F601E5osDi
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) April 13, 2025
How did Gout shoot to fame?
Whereas most of his record-breaking exploits have been on the nationwide degree, it’s Gout’s speedy rise and the outstanding development within the 200m race that contributed to his rising reputation.
Comparisons with Bolt, thought-about by many to be the best sprinter of all time, have contributed to the worldwide media highlight on {the teenager}, who’s at present positioned thirtieth in World Athletics’ 200m rankings.
How has the world reacted to Gout’s exploits?
In keeping with Australian media, Gout has develop into a star and attracts consideration when in public.
“The cork’s out of the genie bottle now,” Gout’s coach Sheppard was quoted as saying of his rising reputation up to now six months.
Movies of Gout’s exploits on the sphere have gone viral, with followers calling him the “way forward for 200m”.
Former Olympian and Athletics Australia President Jane Flemming has not shied away from evaluating Gout with Bolt.
“If I’ve ever seen anyone run like Bolt and constructed like him, he [Gout] is it,” Flemming stated.
What’s subsequent for Gout?
Gout is but to compete in a senior World Athletics championship, however he might make his debut as early as July 2025 ought to Australian Athletics select to ship him.
He believes that he can go even sooner, and he could also be onto one thing; his private greatest within the 200m has drastically improved from 22.68 seconds in 2021 (aged 13) to lower than 20 seconds in 2025.
“There may be at all times strain, however I’m simply working,” Gout says.
