The subways and shopping malls in Tokyo were busy on Monday for the national public holiday to celebrate “respect for the aged day”. Four storeys up, inside Adidas’ hospitality fortress a walk from Japan’s National Stadium, the sentiment was different. Here, a room filled with international press bowed at the altar of athletics’ new prodigy.
Gout Gout, the 17-year-old Australian who will compete in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships on Wednesday, is faster than Usain Bolt was at the same age. His spectacular performances and gleaming grin have swamped social media. And he has been promoted by his sponsor as well as World Athletics as one of the faces of the meet.
By the end of the 45-minute session, there were many morsels on which the press could feed. Gout said he still shares a room with his older brother, who “probably makes a bigger mess compared to me”. He revealed he plays video games Fortnite, Minecraft and Zelda, and was “a hard gamer before I was a track athlete”.
In a question from a British journalist about what he does away from the track and whether he will watch cricket’s Ashes, Gout was honest: “I’m definitely more a doom-scroller, just TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and talking to my friends.”
Gout’s on-track accomplishments are generational. He eclipsed Australia’s previous 200m record which had stood for 56 years, and is already the country’s senior national champion. However, three-quarters of an hour with Gout offered more than one reminder of just how young he is.
His favourite food? “Pizza. Oh wait, burgers. Burgers. Burgers.” Favourite drink? Peach iced tea. To a question of what irritates him, the year 12 student genuinely couldn’t find an answer, before offering “probably exams”.
Yet more enduring personality traits were evident. He praised his parents Bona and Monica as having focus, motivation, integrity and confidence. “All those things they’ve definitely instilled in me,” he said. “They’re hard working as well, so coming over here I’ve instilled hard work into myself,” he said. He shared insights about his “strong” relationship with coach Di Sheppard, saying “we bring ideas from both ends”. And he acknowledged his close connection to American star Noah Lyles, a source of “advice” and “tips”.
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Gout won’t finish his school exams until later this year. He is considering studying psychology at university, to complement his life on the track. He has also cast his mind even further ahead, to what kind of legacy he might leave in athletics.
“Just being someone people can look at [and think] he was good, he was ‘that guy’,” he said. “Being an inspiration to people older than me, people younger than me, people the same age, just people that don’t even do track potentially, just being able to be that someone who started off as a nobody and became someone really, really good.”
In Tokyo, Gout is experiencing the full attention of the world’s sporting press for the first time, as part of his arrival on the senior international athletics scene. This was therefore an important milestone in a career widely tipped for greatness.
Nel described Gout afterwards as a “fine young man” and a natural performer. “When you see a young man of 17 up there with the world’s media in front of him, and he’s so confident answering the questions thoughtfully and insightfully, I do think he’s a precociously special talent.”
The day finished with Nel reminding those present they could not accommodate one-on-one interviews, and asking press to “leave Mr Gout to have some lunch and spend some time with his Adidas family”. Gout put the microphone down and stepped off the stage. The first person to meet him was Adidas chief executive Bjørn Gulden, who hugged the teenager and told him, “well done”.
