Gout Gout: Is a 17-year-old wonderkid the subsequent Usain Bolt?

Gout Gout is about to be the subsequent star as he takes half within the World Championships for Australia; At 14 years of age, he ran 10.57 seconds for the 100m and only a yr later, broke the Australian U18 200m document – he was simply 15

Gout Gout has many excited with simply what he may obtain on the World Athletics Championships

He is not even sufficiently old to drink the champagne that could be flowing his method ought to he style success within the males’s 200m on the World Championships, but Gout Gout has obtained many astute observers salivating at his uncommon skills.

World Athletics President Seb Coe informed Sky Sports activities; “He’s the real deal.” So why is a 17-year-old child from Queensland, Australia getting individuals excited?

Gout Gout is quick and has been for a number of years, however it’s at these World Championships that we’d see his shear potential as he makes the tough transition from ‘junior’ to ‘senior’ athlete.

The son of oldsters from war-torn South Sudan, his mum Monica and pa Bona moved to Australia after fleeing the battle there, their son was born two years after that they had settled in Australia.

By his early teenagers it was clear he was a gifted sportsman, taking part in soccer and sprinting to a excessive customary. At 14, he ran 10.57 seconds for the 100m and only a yr later broke the Australian U18 200m document – he was simply 15.

Final yr he set a path of home data in each 100m and 200m whereas additionally posting very respectable instances over 400m.

Whereas tongues had been already wagging inside Australia and amongst athletics aficionados, it was in October of final yr when Gout Gout actually began to be observed. He had signed a cope with Adidas and ran 20.29 over 200m turning into the fourth-fastest ever over that distance for youth age teams, Usain Bolt being a kind of sooner.

Two months later he ran 20.04, this time was sooner than Bolt had been within the U18 class and set a brand new Australian males’s senior document, breaking the earlier document that had been held since 1968.

Earlier this yr Gout Gout did dip underneath the magic 20-second barrier, working 19.84 seconds, however it was simply over the authorized wind-assisted price of two metres a second (+2.2m/sec) so whereas the race time stands, it will possibly’t be logged as both a document or a private finest.

In June, when making his senior debut racing in Europe, he broke the Australian senior document once more, reducing it to twenty.02 seconds. It might have been one of many biggest surprises in sprinting had Australia not chosen Gout Gout for the World Championships, they duly did choose him to compete over 200m.

As Gout Gout is so younger and so quick, the comparisons with Usain Bolt are to be anticipated, however many are involved that the hype might harm the development of a uncommon expertise. Coe although has been impressed with how the 17-year-old is being sorted; “He is the real deal, but the challenge over the next three to four years is to take his talent into the seniors.

“He’s very level-headed and has good man-management… it is an excellent story, however I would not burden him with a medal (on the World Championships). This can be a studying curve and I believe he could also be too younger to understand what’s going on!”

The great Usain Bolt agrees with Coe, speaking in Tokyo ahead of the Championships, he said: “If he continues on this observe it should be good, however it’s all about getting every thing proper.

“It’s always easier when you’re younger because I was there. I used to do great things when I was young, but the transition to senior from junior is always tougher.”

These sage phrases of recommendation from World and Olympic Champions hasn’t stopped the hype although, particularly in Australia the place pundits consider Gout Gout will make the 200m remaining – one thing Bolt didn’t do at that age – with greater than double the variety of Australian media accredited for the Tokyo World Championships in contrast with Budapest 2023.

There may be usually an elevated curiosity in athletics in Australia, they received seven observe and discipline medals at Paris 2024 and together with Gout Gout, have a number of different real medal contenders for Tokyo.

Couple this surge in expertise with Brisbane set to host the 2032 Olympic Video games, many who love the hyperbole have already put the Gold medal round Gout Gout’s neck for the dash double in seven years time.

Appears a very long time… Gout Gout will nonetheless solely be 24!