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Since comparisons with Usain Bolt and training with Noah Lyles, the drop has begun to transcend the sport of athletics in Australia, but its surprising loss the weekend served as a reminder that he is still a teenager and, ultimately, success is never guaranteed.
“I don’t like talking about that,” said the 17 -year -old drop at 7.30.
“To be honest, I keep it simple. I am still a child, still in high school, so you can’t expect too much from me.”
Son of South Sudan migrants, Gout exploded to the Australian athletics scene in 2023 after breaking the 200 -year 200 -year -old Australian record.
Then, the teenager consolidated his place in the sport psyche by breaking the legendary 56 -year Australian sprin of 200m, 56, in 20.04 seconds in the Australian championship of all schools in Brisbane last year.
Gout then became the first Australian to break the 20 seconds barrier fifteen days ago in the Queensland Athletics Championship in Brisbane, with the 200 -meter Sprint in a finally illegal, assisted by the wind, 19.98 seconds.
In the last 12 months, according to the reports, he has signed a multi -million dollar sponsorship agreement with Adidas and rubbed shoulders with the 100 -meter Paris champion of 2024, American Noah Lyles.
Gout is now the face of Australian Athletics, which used its image in the center of sport marketing material for the Maurie Plant Meet, the first exhausted athletics event in Australia in more than two decades.
He is beginning to transcend the sport in Australia.
“Everyone says my name, everyone shouts my name at the top of their lungs, it is definitely great, this is something that not many people can experience.”
Gout said.
But the teenager admits that his life “is definitely not normal” at this time.
“Life is never normal, you have the ups and downs, you have the obstacles, you have the rocks, you have the sand, you have the fire,” he said.
“It’s something I can get used to and something I can face.”
Got Got was polished by young fans at the weekend athletics encounter despite staying second. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
‘Anger’ in defeat
The fugitive success of the drop attracted records record at the Maurie plant meeting in Melbourne, and the event was first sold in more than two decades.
He also marked a first for the drop, which until now only ran against adolescents, generally leaving a gap between him and his closest competitors.
The final event of Peter Norman Memorial 200m on Saturday night marked the first race where the drop was running against a field of completely adult men, it was second, upset by Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy’s partner.
Lachlan Kennedy beat the drop by little to win the Peter Norman Memorial 200m event. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
To overcome the drop, Kennedy ran a better personal brand of 20.26 seconds, and it was last week.
At this time, Kennedy, 21, is the best Australian male sprinter, and told journalists after the race that was proud to have given the crowd “a good career.”
“I had never run with a crowd like this before, they really feed me so that G-Man outside.”
Kennedy said.
“I just wanted to give them [the crowd] A good career. It would not be fun if he simply destroyed everyone.
“I’m sorry if he spoiled him, but what a great career, you can’t be upset with that.”
Gout and Kennedy rushed to celebrate the achievements of the other after the race. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Gout, who had not been familiar with placing himself second until now, said that experience would only boost his desire to succeed.
“People will say that winning feels great, the second feels bad and the third feels even worse,” said Gout.
“Then coming in second is something that you can experience and definitely puts fuel in my fire and lights up.”
Gout coach Di Sheppard said the teenager would be disappointed with the result.
“I know he’s quite angry about that,” he said to 7.30 after the race.
“All we have done is a step forward, it is about learning to deal with this environment too, so I think you are doing a great job.
“He just remember that he is a 17 -year -old boy … and has a brilliant future.”
Di Sheppard says the drop has a brilliant future ahead. (ABC News: Andrew Alleree-Williams)
The weight of expectations
Patrick Johnson has the fastest time that an Australian has ever directed more than 100 m a 9.93 seconds.
More than 20 years later, since his record career in myth in Japan, Johnson remains the point of reference for the event and remains the only Australian to run less than 10 seconds on Riband’s blue distance.
It means that Johnson is in a unique position to comment on the exaggeration surrounding the drop, which has made comparisons with Usain Bolt.
“I think it is a good compliment; I think the drop is a different animal.”
Johnson said.
Patrick Johnson (right) knows what it is to be an athlete with great public expectations. (Getty images: Adam Pretty)
With a rivalry blooming between Gout and Kennedy, Johnson distrusts the pressures that are put in young athletes too soon, something that is too familiar.
In the period prior to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Johnson was locked in a battle with his watchmaker Matt Shirvington to be the fastest man on the continent.
Johnson is a member of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games Board, where the drop is expected to be in its peak, but the former champion says that no gold medal is a guarantee.
“He is having his own expectations that he compares with Usain Bolt and maybe some of the best in the world, and I only say: ‘Be yourself, friend’,” Johnson said.
“In six years, the drop is going to be 24 years old and there are many things that can happen in six years.
“There is a long journey in athletics, there are many ups and downs and each race cannot be a PB, so we make sure we support them at each step.”
Look 7.30Monday to Thursday 7:30 pm in ABC IView and ABC TV
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