Online Reporter
ON HIS last public appearance seven months ago, Usain Bolt — the fastest human in history — was asked if he thought anybody would ever run quicker than he once did.
This summer it will be 17 years since Bolt set world records in the 100metres (9.58 seconds) and 200metres (19.19 seconds) during a memorable World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Those were two of the most extraordinary feats of human endeavour ever seen in professional sport, which nobody thus far has managed to come close to, even with the improvement in shoe technology. At a sponsors’ event in Tokyo last September, the question was put to Bolt if, perhaps one day, those times could be surpassed by a younger rival.The Jamaican sprinter superstar replied: “I’m not worried.
“The talent is there. There will be talented athletes coming up and they will do well.“
But at this present moment, I don’t see anyone (who will) break the world record. So, not worried.”
Ask Bolt that same question now and following what happened last weekend Down Under, he might be feeling a little less reassured about his world records standing the test of time.
In track-and–field circles, there have long been whispers and gossip about a young Australian school kid with quick feet, who has been coming up through the age groups.Gout Gout came to worldwide prominence in December 2024 when at the age of 16 he broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Aussie national record in the 200 metres by 0.02 seconds.He clocked 20.04 seconds at the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane.
It was a time that would have earned him SIXTH place at that summer’s Olympic final in Paris, while Bolt’s best at the same age was 20.13 seconds. When Bolt, 39, saw a video online of that display, he said: “He looks like young me.
And the teenager remarked after his breakthrough moment: “Pressure makes diamonds and I guess I’m better than a diamond right now.”
If that was not impressive enough then last Sunday, Gout —now 18 — ran 19.67 seconds to win the 200 metres final at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney.
That time was faster than Bolt’s, who ran 19.93 seconds in 2004, at the same age. Not only did Gout smash his own national record — no Aussie had ever dipped under 20 seconds before — but the second half of that race was under 10 seconds.
That was quicker than Bolt ran over the same distance at his prime in the German capital in 2009.
Gout flew down the home straight in 9.24 seconds for his second 100metres while Bolt ran 9.27 seconds in that World Championship final.
Gout said: “There’s a big weight off my shoulders knowing I ran it legally, and I have the speed and my body to run times like that.
“So, it definitely feels great, and I’m ready for more.”
As Gout grows taller and continues to improve and learn, assuming he stays injury-free, then he may well emerge as the first credible opposition to Bolt’s long-standing world records.
Gout told Australia’s Channel Nine, when the subject of comparisons to Bolt were brought up:
“I’m just trying to be me.
“Obviously, I do run like him. Sometimes I do look like him, but obviously I’m making a name for myself — and I think I’ve done that pretty well.”
Gout —who was born in Ipswich, Queensland, and is 11 months younger than two-time darts world champion Luke Littler— is one of seven siblings.
He was born in Oz more than a year after his parents Monica and Bona had fled from war-torn South Sudan.
Last year it was reported he had grown three centimetres taller, according to his coaching team, since his 2024 national record run and measured 1.83 metres (6 feet).
He has some way to go before he matches the height of Bolt, who is 1.95 metres (6ft 5in), but one can assume he will only continue to get taller.
His name is pronounced “Gwot” and his father says it should be spelt Guot.
Yet a mix-up over the translation meant it went down as “Gout” on his birth certificate and has remained ever since, even though in medical terms gout is a type of arthritis that causes sudden, severe joint pain.
Dad Bona told 7 News in Australia: “It’s supposed to be Guot. I know that Gout Gout is a disease name.
“It’s something that’s not acceptable. For me I don’t mind whatever they want to call him, but for me I know his name is Guot.”
Gout’s trainer is Diane Sheppard, who spotted his talent when he first ran for his school and has been by his side for more than five years.
He is managed by James Templeton, who previously worked with Kenyan David Rudisha, the London 2012 Olympic champion and world-record holder over 800metres.
In a previous interview, Templeton described Gout as “out of this world” when he first saw on the track but at the same time, he wants to downplay expectations and has “always avoided any talk about Usain.”
Adidas were quick to snap him up with a major, long-term deal, reported to be worth £4million, as they fought off competition from Puma and Nike.
While that sounds like a lot of money for a youngster, the Summer Olympics come to Brisbane in 2032, by which time he will be 24 years old, and potentially the best in the world.
Gout has used the cash wisely, buying a house for his family in an upmarket area of west Brisbane.
Provided he stays free of injury and his next steps are carefully managed, Gout has the world at his feet but moving from the junior ranks to the professional sphere is always precarious.
When he appeared at the 2025 World Athletics Championship, the same event in which Bolt was asked about losing his world records, Gout made his debut appearance against the world’s best.
And yet he went out in the semi-finals, unable to keep pace with the much older, more experienced runners.
It was a cautionary tale that amid all the hype, he has to do it when it really matters, just like Bolt did time after time. Seb Coe, the president of World Athletics and two-time 1,500metres Olympic champion, said before those Champs that it was premature to expect him to be on the podium and he was proved right.
Instead, that trip to Japan should be used as the opportunity as a “huge learning curve” and there is the chance he will be involved in this summer’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the green and gold colours of Australia.
Coe, 69, said: “He’s an outstanding athlete. I was privileged to have had supper with him and his coach after the Diamond League in Monaco.
“He’s very level-headed. He’s clearly got a lot of talent. Clearly, he is the real deal.
“The biggest coaching challenge is to take an athlete from his age through the next 3-4 years into the senior ranks, safely, mentally in decent shape and physically not badly damaged.
“I thought he was incredibly level-headed. Seemed to know what he was doing. I think it’s a great story.
“He’s probably at this moment too young to be afraid and doesn’t quite understand how complicated it gets later on.” —Sun
