Gout Gout – you should definitely remember this name. The athlete, who is only 16 years old, has broken a national ancient record in athletics. Comparisons to sprint legend Usain Bolt come up almost automatically.
You can see the crazy run in the video above.
A teenager from Australia has sent a big message to the world of athletics. What happened?
16-year-old Gout Gout just ran a national record in the 200 meters at the Australian School Championships in Brisbane in a sensational 20.04 seconds. He broke an old record set by Peter Norman, who used it to win a silver medal at the 1968 Olympic Games.
16-year-old runs into the spotlight
That makes you sit up and take notice. A 16-year-old has never run so fast over 200 meters.
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Gout after the sensational race. “I’ve been chasing this record, but I didn’t think it would come this year. I thought it might come next year or the year after.”
Gout comes from Ipswich near Brisbane. His parents once fled to Australia from South Sudan to escape the war there.
Gout Gout also flies over 100 meters
He had already caused a stir in the 100-meter run at the school championships. In this distance he ran 10.04 seconds. This makes him the fourth fastest Australian ever in the premier sprint discipline. During this run he also had a tailwind of 3.4 meters per second. It is therefore not included in official record lists.
Comparisons to the super-sprinter Usain Bolt quickly arise among young running talents. The Jamaican achieved a slightly slower time than Gout in his youth. In 2003 he ran “only” 20.13 seconds over the 200 m.
To this day, Bolt holds the world records for the 100 m (9.58 s) and 200 m (19.19 s) with his amazing times, which he set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
In total he won eleven World Cup and eight Olympic titles. Still a long way to go for Gout Gout.