Who is Gout Gout? All you need to know about Australia's Usain Bolt

The 17-year-old athlete has already broken Usain Bolt’s U-16 record.

It is not often that a young and upcoming star draws a serious comparison with the fastest man ever to walk the Earth. But it seems that 17-year-old Australian track and field star already has.

Those who would have followed track and field even sometime this year, it is likely, would have come across the name- Gout Gout. The Teenager has hogged the limelight, but do you know when it all started?Well, his electric run in 2024 forced the athletics world to sit up, rub their eyes, and wonder, could this teenager from Australia be the real deal?

Could he, in time, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great Usain “Lightning” Bolt himself? Honestly, his performance validates excitement among fans. For perspective, let’s go back to December 7, 2024- Running at the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane, time seemed to stand still as Gout crossed the finish line in the 200 meters, and when the clock stopped at 20.04 seconds.

Not only had he broken Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian national record of 20.06 seconds, a mark set while winning Olympic silver in Mexico City, but he’d claimed the Oceania area record as well. Please think about that!

But what set the athletics world buzzing? It was the realization that Gout had eclipsed Usain Bolt’s mark for the fastest 16-year-old 200m runner in history, who had clocked 20.13 seconds at the same age in 2003.

Hold on! More stats are coming your way. Gout’s ascent also placed him second on the all-time list of under-18 200m performers, behind only American Erriyon Knighton, who ran 19.84 seconds as a 17-year-old in 2001. Here’s everything you need to know about Australia’s Usain Bolt:

A journey of migration

Gout’s story begins far from the tracks he now commands. The 17-year-old star was born on 29 December 2007 in Ipswich, Queensland. He is one of seven siblings, including twin sisters, raised by parents Bona and Monica.

His brother Mawien first entered the world in South Sudan, before the family fled to Egypt, where his sister Achel was born. In 2006, it was time to move again. Australia or Canada? The family had to make a decision, and ultimately, Australia was the only option. Then Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, became their home.

“I think because my parents’ friends were all moving to Australia and they felt Australia had better opportunities, so they moved together,” Gout said, who arrived one year after his parents shifted.

What if fate had pointed differently? “I think if I had moved there (to Canada), it would be a different life,” he reflected.

What is in his name?

It’s the name that has captured headlines — but it’s not the name he was meant to carry. Speaking to 7NEWS, Gout’s parents revealed their son’s real name is Guot, pronounced “gwot”!

A paperwork mix-up during their escape from South Sudan changed everything. “His name is Guot, it’s supposed to be Guot,” his father, Bona, told 7NEWS. “When I see people call him Gout Gout, I’m not happy for him.”“I know that Gout Gout is a disease name, but I don’t want my son to be called a disease name … it’s something that’s not acceptable,” Bona said.

When Gout Gout start running?

Gout’s journey on the track began at 13 when coach Di Sheppard, working at Ipswich Grammar School, spotted something special.

“I saw him running on the oval, and there was just something about him and the way he moved,” Sheppard told The Guardian. “I couldn’t pinpoint it, but gut instinct just screamed at me: who’s that kid?” she recalled.

Gout arrived at Ipswich Grammar in Year 7, and after impressing at the Interhouse Carnival, he received his first pair of spikes, with Sheppard joining him as his coach. By 14 (2021), Gout was already outrunning leading Australian athletes two years older!

At just 15, he won the men’s under-18 200m final at the 2023 Australian Junior Athletics Championships — not just winning, but setting a national under-20 record as a teenager.

August 2024 saw another milestone: a silver medal at the World U20 Championships. Recognition came fast, and Adidas offered him his first sponsorship. “I like athletics because it is personal. I like that it is individual and the results come down to me,” Gout said to Australian Athletics.

What does Gout Gout think of the Usain Bolt comparison?

Since that electric run on December 7 at the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane, the Usain Bolt comparisons have followed Gout Gout everywhere! Clocking a stunning 20.04 over 200m, he not only smashed Peter Norman’s Oceanian record but also bettered Bolt’s world age-16 best of 20.13.  So, what does Gout think of being likened to the fastest man alive?“In the moment, it feels great because everyone wants to be compared to Usain Bolt, the fastest athlete alive,” Gout said to 7News.“At times it does get a bit overwhelming, but now that I’ve grown up, I’m a bit mature and my circle helps me stay level, and I’m just trying to make a name for myself. I want to become one of Australia’s best athletes in track and field, This is my dream.”

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