- Born:
- December 29, 2007, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia (age 18)
Gout Gout
What is Australian sprinter Gout Gout’s national record in the 200-meter sprint?
How did Gout Gout’s family come to live in Australia?
How did Gout Gout gain attention in his early years?
What notable achievement did Gout Gout accomplish at the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2024?
What was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s reaction to Gout Gout’s performance?
Gout Gout (born December 29, 2007, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia) Australian sprinter who holds the national record for the fastest time in the 200-meter sprint. His early exploits, including multiple wins and records in Australian school championship events, have earned him comparisons to Usain Bolt, who is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time.
Early years
Gout is one of seven children born to Monica and Bona Gout. After the family’s first child, Gout’s oldest brother, was born in present-day South Sudan, they moved to Egypt before migrating to Australia in 2006, a year before Gout was born. As a boy Gout played football (soccer) and idolized Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Gout’s name is, according to his father, actually Guot Guot, pronounced as “Gwot,” with the error in the spelling of the family name attributed to a clerical mistake by the Sudanese government while the family was trying to leave the country.
When Gout was in his seventh year at the Ipswich Grammar School, Queensland, he showed up for a 100-meter race and instantly drew attention. “At the grade seven carnival I was versing the national under-13 silver medalist and I beat him,” Gout said in 2024, according to the Courier Mail. “And then the coach was like, ‘Ahhhhh, I want this kid.’ ” His coach, Diane “Di” Sheppard, told the young Gout that he could one day become an Olympic medalist.
Rise to fame
In 2023, at age 15, Gout won the 100-meter and 200-meter races at the Australian junior championships in the U18 category. In March 2024 a video of Gout running a 10.29 in the 100 meters at the Queensland Athletics Championships went viral, amassing millions of views on YouTube and Instagram. At the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima in August 2024, Gout won the silver medal in the 200-meter race with a time of 20.60 seconds. That October Gout turned professional and signed a deal with Adidas.
At the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane in December 2024, Gout broke a long-standing Australian record: the 200-meter mark that had been set in 1968 by Peter Norman, during his silver medal performance at the Mexico City Olympics.
“I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but I guess I ran Australia’s fastest ever time in the 200.” —Gout Gout, speaking to Athletics Australia
Gout’s time of 20.04 seconds in that race was also, at the time, the fastest ever by a 16-year-old. It won the admiration of none other than Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who replied to a Jumpers World Instagram post, saying, “He looks like young me.” In fact, Gout’s time was .09 seconds faster than Bolt’s when he ran the race as a 16-year-old.
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Bolt is not the only one to notice similarities between himself and Gout, given their blazing speed and long stride. Several commentators have made the comparison, and Gout has recognized it, too, but does not want to get carried away. “I do see it,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald in December 2024. “My stride length is pretty long, my knee height is pretty high and just the amount of tallness I get when I’m running.” He added: “I’m just me trying to be me, trying to be Gout Gout. Obviously, I do run like him. I do sometimes look like him, but obviously, I’m making a name for myself, and I think I’ve done that pretty well. I just want to continue doing that and continue to be not only Usain Bolt but continue to be Gout Gout.”
At the Australian Athletics Championships in April 2025, Gout won the 200-meter gold with a time of 19.84, but the time did not count toward his records because of a strong tailwind. He improved on his national record by finishing in 20.02 seconds in the 200-meter event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, that June, winning the gold medal in his first international competition. In his debut at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September 2025, Gout finished fourth in his semifinal, with a time of 20.36 seconds, and failed to qualify for the final. Gout, just 17, saw something positive to take away from the experience. “It was a great race. Being able to come out here in a semifinal and do my thing is pretty incredible,” he told an Australian television station.