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Gout Gout: Don't compare me to Usain Bolt
SEN • March 26th, 2025 9:40 am
Australia’s newest athletics superstar Gout Gout says he gets overwhelmed by comparisons to Usain Bolt and wants to become a spring king in his own right.
The teenager put the athletics world on notice late in 2024 after he broke Peter Norman's Australian national 200m record which had stood for 56 years.
Since then, the 17-year-old has continued to shave the record with his most impressive time coming in at 19.98 seconds marking the sixth fastest time by an athlete under the age of 20 and making Gout the first Australian to go sub 20-seconds.
It is this achievement that has people uttering his name in the same sentence at Bolt who ran a 19.93 as a teenager.
“In the moment it feels great because everyone wants to be compared to Usain Bolt, the fastest athlete alive,” Gout told Channel 7.
“At times it does get a bit overwhelming, but now that I’ve grown up, I’m a bit mature and my circle really helps me stay level and I’m just trying to make a name for myself.
“Although I do run like Usain Bolt and I do maybe look like him.
“My dream is I want to be one of the best athletes track and field and Australia has ever seen.
"I want to go to the '28 Olympics in LA. I want to go to the Brisbane Olympics. And I just want to show the world that I’m Gout and how I’m here to stay and the Olympics is the best place to do that.”
Gout arrives in Melbourne this week for the Maurie Plant Meet (March 29) with enormous expectation on his shoulders given his meteoric rise in the last four months.
MAURIE PLANT EVENT SCHEDULE (All times AEDT)
- 17:30 Javelin Throw (600g) · Final Women Senior
- 18:42 Discus Throw (2kg) · Final Men Senior
- 19:08 100m Hurdles (83.8cm / 8.5m) · Final Women Senior
- 19:11 High Jump · Final Women Senior
- 19:18 3000m · Final Women Senior
- 19:28 High Jump · Final Men Senior
- 19:38 400m · Final Men Senior
- 19:48 1500m · Final Women Senior
- 19:50 Triple Jump · Final Men Senior
- 19:53 Hammer Throw (4kg) · Final Women Senior
- 20:01 5000m · Final Men Senior
- 20:28 200m · Final Women Senior
- 20:38 John Landy Memorial 1500m · Final Men Senior
- 20:54 Peter Norman Memorial 200m · Final Men Senior
