Former superstar sprinter Usain Bolt heralded 16-year-old Gout Gout as the Australian broke his record which previously stood for 22 years.
In September, Gout ran a 200 metre time of 20.60 setting a new event record at the Under-20 World Championships just about bettering Bolt’s time by 0.01 seconds.
The Jamaican appeared on the High Performance Podcast with Jake Humphrey to reminisce on his early days as an athlete and give advice to the younger generation.
“When I started out, I didn’t understand the concept of ‘being great’ because I was young,” Bolt said. “I was 15 when I won the world juniors, I was really young and I was really talented so I didn’t have to work as hard as it was just talent, as I was winning and winning.”
“I remember when I got to the professional level, and I felt like it was just going to be easy,” he continued. “And I got to the stage where I would go to meets and I would lose. And I was like, ‘This is strange, this is new’. So it took me a while to understand.”
The reality of progress is that at times it is not linear and Gout will remain confident in his abilities if he remembers what Bolt said.
Gout, in August, was previously asked about the comparisons to the 100m and 200m record holder.
The young athlete responded: “It’s pretty cool because Usain Bolt is arguably the greatest athlete of all time, and just being compared to him is a great feeling.
“Obviously, I’m Gout Gout, so I’m trying to make a name for myself. If I can get to the level he was, that would be a great achievement.”
Gout’s personal best in 100m is 10.29 putting him in line to progress into a world-class athlete and possibly into a group of sprinters who are tipped to break senior records.
This year he has also clocked the fastest time by an Australian in 31 years (20.29) with his eyes now set on the national record of 20.06 set by Peter Norman in 1968.
His standout performances caught the attention of Adidas, leading to a sponsorship deal that saw him join 100m Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles as part of the brand’s elite roster.
With age on his side he’ll have many years to develop similar to Bolt all those years ago.
In 2007 three years after Bolt ran his time of 20.40 he won a silver in the World Championships for the same event aged 21.
A year later he set the 100m world record running a time of 9.72, one he bettered twice settling on a time of 9.58.
That same year later he cemented himself as a household name by winning the 100m and 200m gold at the Beijing Olympics.
He also set a world record of 19.30 at that event which he bettered in 2009 as he ran 19.19, the current time to beat.
Achievements all sprinters wish to accomplish. Perhaps Gout is the best positioned to do so.
