Australian schoolboy sprinter Gout Gout says he would consider his first world championships a success if he runs a personal best in the 200 meters in Tokyo, regardless of where he finishes.
The big-striding 17-year-old has earned comparisons with sprinting great Usain Bolt after breaking the long-standing Australian 200m record and running a string of other fast times over the past year.
He improved his 200m record to 20.02 seconds in Ostrava in June and said he is excited about the prospect of coming up against the best in the world at the National Stadium, where the heats start on Wednesday.
“I definitely think PB-ing, regardless of where I come, is definitely a big success,” he told reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
“And hopefully, if I can make it at the semi, that’s even greater. And then if I make it into the final, that’s a big success.”
Despite taking a big step up in Tokyo just a year after running in the world junior championships, Gout said he would not be intimidated.
“I’ve earned my place to be here,” he said. “Obviously these athletes are stronger, bigger, older, more experienced, but I know that I have the ability to go out there and do my thing.
“At the end of the day, we’re all running 200 meters, and regardless of how old you are, when you stop on that line, it’s all about who’s fastest.”
While he thought he would end up running both the 100m and 200m as he got stronger, Gout said that becoming the first Australian to go under the 20-second barrier in the longer sprint was something he thought about all the time.
“Running 19 seconds, you’re up there for sure,” he added. “You know you’re in the top 15, top 20 in the world. So it’s definitely great.”
After Tokyo, Gout said he would be taking a short holiday before heading back to school, where he is a straight A student, to take his final exams.
The teenager’s ebullient personality, which has only added to his popularity in Australia, was on full display on Monday as he discussed a wide range of subjects from his love of burgers to his squabbles with his siblings, to his overnight fame.
“It’s definitely crazy,” he said. “I’ve had people with their grandparents come up to me wanting photos … I’ve had a baby, her mother wanted me to sign her forehead.
“It’s definitely surreal … and it’s definitely something I enjoy.”
The son of refugees from South Sudan, Gout conceded that it might have been destiny that he ended up being born and raised in southeastern Queensland, where the 2032 Olympics will be held.
“There was a choice between Canada and Australia,” he said.
“I think God kind of made them follow that path, and they landed on Queensland.”
Bolt offered him some advice about the transition to racing in the senior ranks last week and Gout, although he knows he has to be patient, made no bones of the fact he wanted to follow the path to greatness that the Jamaican trailblazed.
“Just being able to be that someone who started off as a nobody and became someone really, really good,” he said.
“Being that I think would be a very, very big success for me.”
