Gout Gout has taken Australian athletics by storm, former champion Patrick Johnson knows exactly what that’s like

From comparisons to Usain Bolt and training with Noah Lyles, Gout Gout has begun to transcend the sport of athletics in Australia, but his surprising loss at the weekend served as a reminder that he’s still a teenager and ultimately success is never guaranteed.

“I don’t like speaking about it,” the 17-year-old Gout told 7.30.

“To be honest, I just keep it simple. I’m still a kid, still in high school, so you can’t expect too much from me.”

The son of South Sudanese migrants, Gout exploded on to the Australian athletics scene in 2023 after breaking the Under-18s Australian 200 metre record.

The teenager then cemented his place in the sport’s psyche by breaking legendary Australian sprinter Pete Norman’s 56-year-old national 200m record in 20.04 seconds at the Australian All Schools Championship in Brisbane last year.

Gout then became the first Australian to break the 20-second barrier a fortnight ago at the Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane, running the 200m sprint in an ultimately illegal, wind-assisted 19.98 seconds.

In the last 12 months, he’s reportedly signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with Adidas and rubbed shoulders with 2024 Paris Olympic 100m Champion, American Noah Lyles. 

Gout is now the face of Australian Athletics, which used his image at the centre of the sport’s marketing material for the Maurie Plant meet — the first sold out athletics event in Australia in more than two decades.

He is beginning to transcend the sport in Australia. 

But the teenager admits his life is “definitely not normal” right now. 

“Life is never normal, you’ve got the ups and downs, you got the hurdles, you got the rocks, you got the sand, you got the fire,” he said.

“It’s something I can get used to and something I can cope with.”

‘Angry’ in defeat

The runaway success of Gout attracted record crowds at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, with the event selling out for the first time in more than two decades.

It also marked a first for Gout himself, who had until this point only ever raced against teenagers, typically leaving a gap between him and his nearest competitors. 

The Peter Norman Memorial 200m final event on Saturday night marked the first race where Gout found himself racing against a field of fully-grown men — he placed second — upset by fellow Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy.

To beat Gout, Kennedy ran a personal best of 20.26 seconds, and was fresh off winning silver in the 60m final at the World Indoor Championships in China last week.

Right now, 21-year-old Kennedy is the top Australian men’s sprinter, and told reporters after the race that he was proud to have given the crowd “a good race”.

“I just wanted to give them [the crowd] a good race. It wouldn’t be fun if he just destroyed everyone.

“I’m sorry if it did spoil it, but what a great race, you can’t be upset with that.”

Gout, who had been unfamiliar with placing second until now, said the experience would only further drive his desire to succeed.

“People will say winning feels great, second feels bad and third feels even worse,” Gout said.

“So coming second is something you can experience and it definitely puts fuel to my fire and it lights that burn.”

Gout’s coach Di Sheppard said the teenager would be disappointed with the result.

“Everything we’ve done is a step forward, it’s all about learning how to cope with this environment as well, so I think he’s doing a great job.

“Just remember he’s a 17-year-old boy … and he’s got a bright future.”

The weight of expectations

Patrick Johnson holds the fastest time ever run by an Australian over 100m at 9.93 seconds.

More than 20 years later since his record-breaking run in at Mito in Japan, Johnson is still the benchmark for the event and remains the only Australian to run under 10 seconds over the blue riband distance.

It means Johnson is in a unique position to comment on the hype surrounding Gout, who has drawn comparisons to Usain Bolt.

With a rivalry blooming between Gout and Kennedy, Johnson is wary of the pressures being put on young athletes too soon — something he is all too familiar with.

In the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Johnson was locked in a battle with fellow sprinter Matt Shirvington to be the fastest man on the continent.

Johnson is a board member for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, where it’s hoped Gout will be at his peak — but the former champion says no gold medal is a guarantee.

“He is having his own expectations that he’s compared to Usain Bolt and maybe some of the best in the world, and I’m just saying, ‘be yourself mate’,” Johnson said

“In six years, Gout Gout is going to be 24 and there’s a lot that can happen in six years.

“There’s a long journey in track and field, there’s a lot of ups and downs and every race can’t be a PB so let’s make sure we support them at every step.”

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