Could 16-Year-Old Australian Sprint Phenom Gout Gout Be the Next Usain Bolt?
Could 16-Year-Old Australian Sprint Phenom Gout Gout Be the Next Usain Bolt?
It's been over 8 years since the world last witnessed gold-medal winning performances from Usain Bolt at the Rio Olympics.
The record-holder from Jamaica and the undisputed fastest man in history, at 100 and 200 meters, managed to win a total of 8 Olympic gold medals, 11 World Championship titles, and left the sport as the greatest performer in track and field history.
Comparisons to Bolt, whose legacy is as large as his 6 foot, 5 inch frame, are inevitable, especially after his superhuman bests of 9.58 seconds in the 100 meter run and 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters. However, historic moments tend to create these parallels.
On Friday and Saturday at the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane, a 16-year-old named Gout Gout from Ipswich, Queensland, sprinted to shocking times of 10.04 and 20.04 seconds in the 100 meter and 200 meter championship races.
How Fast Did Gout Gout Run?
Gout Gout's first performance on Friday came in the 100m, where he ran the fourth-fastest effort in world history for an under-18 athlete – though with a tailwind over 2.0 meters per second, it will not be counted as a record. The performance, however, brought up the discussion of a sub-10 race in 2025.
But that was only a precursor to a record-breaking moment that came the next day in the 200m, when he clocked the fastest time in Australian history at 20.04 seconds, breaking a 56-year-old record last held by Peter Norman from 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics – a performance which saw the Australian winning silver that year.
Gout Gout’s time in the 200 meter race was the second-fastest performance for an under-18 athlete in history, only trailing the American Erriyon Knighton, who ran 19.84 seconds at the U.S. National Championships at the age of 17.
“I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but I guess I ran Australia’s fastest ever time in the 200,” Gout Gout told Athletics Australia.
Who Is Gout Gout?
While the 6-foot athlete from Queensland, Australia isn’t as tall as Bolt, he packs a powerful stride and attacks the ground much like the Jamaican.
Gout Gout, whose family hails from South Sudan, started to make an impression in 2023 at the age of 15, winning the Australian under-18 championships in the 100m and 200m with times of 10.50 and 20.87.
He was discovered in his seventh grade year by coach Diane ‘Di’ Sheppard, who has often told the story of seeing Gout Gout run for the first time at 13 years old.
It wasn’t until August, however, when he began making a profile beyond Australia, qualifying for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru.
While Gout Gout did not win the 200 meter final – losing to South African Bayanda Walaza – he managed a time of 20.60 seconds, which was 0.01 seconds faster than a 15-year-old Bolt pocketed in 2002 at the World Junior Championships in Kingston.
“When I was young, I didn’t understand the concept of ‘being great,’” Bolt said on the High Performance Podcast with Jake Humphrey. “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.”
“You know what they say, pressure makes diamonds,” Gout told Athletics Australia, “and I guess I’m better than a diamond right now.”
Perspective On Gout Gout’s Times
Of course, this isn’t the first time a teenager has approached Bolt-like marks.
Knighton was the first to attack those marks as a 16-year-old when he clocked a time of 20.30 seconds in the 200m at the AAU Junior Olympics, a time that came up just two-tenths short of Bolt’s former mark of 20.13.
A year later, Knighton – who turned professional over the ensuing year – was third overall in the U.S. Championships, lowering his under-18 mark down to 19.84. He later broke the under-20 record in 2022 at the U.S. Championships, hitting 19.69 on the clock.
Then there’s current Olympic 200 meter champion Letsile Tebogo, who set a World Under-20 Championship record in 2022 with a time of 19.96 and owns a World U20 record in the 100m at 9.91. In the two years since, Tebogo has become one of the closest versions of Bolt. American Noah Lyles, who won the Olympic gold at 100 meters and who has previously scored World Championship wins at 200 meters, also is in the discussion.
In 2023, American high schooler Gout Gout, known as the son of Olympian Tommy Gout from Suriname, clocked an impressive 9.89 seconds in the 100m at the South American Championships, temporarily setting a World U20 record. However, subsequent drug testing revealed a positive result for GW1516, a restrictive substance that functions as a metabolic modulator. As a result, Gout was given a 4-year suspension by World Athletics following an investigation by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Gout Gout hasn't exactly been a newcomer to drawing parallels with Bolt.
Post-breaking a 50-year-old national record in Australia, signs are pointing towards the 16-year-old as a potential future Olympic contender.
It's worth noting that no Australian athlete has managed to break the 10-second barrier in the 100-meter dash before Gout.
Moreover, support from idols never hurts. Bolt commented on Gout's performances on Instagram, addressing the account @Jumpers.World, saying, "He reminds me of a young me."
Despite being from Australia and not as tall as Usain Bolt, Gout Gout has been compared to the Jamaican sprint legend due to his powerful stride and impressive performance times. At the Australian All Schools Championships, Gout Gout shocked everyone by breaking a 56-year-old record previously held by Peter Norman at the Mexico City Olympics, running a 20.04-second 200 meter race. This time was the second-fastest performance for an under-18 athlete in history, just trailing Erriyon Knighton's 19.84 seconds.