- Gout Gout draws attention as a sprinter on the track
- Australian teenager aspires to be Olympic champion
- He has no doubt that he can break the 10-second mark in the 100 meters.
At just 16 years old, Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout knows he’s the center of attention most places he goes.
Constant comparisons to Jamaican sports great Usain Bolt would be intimidating for many teenagers, but not for the confident student at Ipswich Grammar in Brisbane.
Gout is happy to take it all in stride, literally, and see how far the sport takes him.
Already sponsored by Adidas, the son of South Sudanese immigrants Monica and Bona Gout finished second in the 200 meters final at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima in August.
The driver was competing with athletes up to two years older and tore through the track to record an incredible personal best time of 20.60.
He also previously recorded a 10.20 in the 100 meters and is convinced he can break the 10-second barrier.
At just 16 years old, Brisbane-based track sprinter Gout Gout is the future of Australian athletics
Gout’s coach, Di Sheppard, believes that the son of two South Sudanese immigrants could be an Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 meters like his idol Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, is considered the greatest sprinter of all time.
The last Australia to do so was Patrick Johnson in 2003, who clocked 9.93 at a meet in Japan.
The drop has stated that a sub 10 time will “definitely happen” and given that he has started to break Olympic icon Bolt’s youth records, it’s hard to argue with that.
His coach Di Sheppard, who discovered him when Gout was a seventh-grader, is just as confident.
“We talk about it because for us it is a fact (that he breaks 10 seconds),” he said. News Corporation.
“When it happens, it happens, and it could happen early… because everything is happening sooner than we expected.”
Come the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, Gout will be 24 and Sheppard believes he can run the 100m and 200m double on the world’s biggest stage.
When it comes to Bolt, Gout is determined to be himself, but given their similar style on the track, he knows comparisons are inevitable.
In January, Gout and Sheppard will travel to the US for a training stint with Orlando-based Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles.
The main goal will be to see Lyles in person and learn how to deal with the considerable hype that is sure to follow in the coming years.
Australia had its iconic Cathy Freeman moment at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 – what price does history repeat itself with the drop in Brisbane in 2032?