Gout Gout stood near his blocks, and 10,000 fans – boisterous just moments earlier – fell silent. The act was a collective show of respect, an acknowledgment they were in the presence of greatness. “It’s so quiet,” one whispered.
They didn’t have to be told, this mass that had packed into Lakeside Stadium on Saturday, just how lucky they were. From a raucous evening of compelling track and field, the moment before the 200m race elevated the night into something more significant. “The silence was loud,” Gout said afterwards.
Surreal has a character of the bizarre, of fantasy, of the absurd. This 17-year-old has run 200m faster than any other Australian before him, with a gait like a bike’s high gear. He promises to shoulder a nation’s hopes for a home Olympics in seven years’ time and anchor that same nation’s faith in multiculturalism. He is Adidas’s golden ticket and has already brought in millions of dollars of revenue for Athletics Australia. Yet, the third of seven children of the South Sudanese migrants Bona and Monica spent this week doing his high school exams. This same boy on Saturday left an entire stadium entranced.
Three hundred words into this piece and it may be worth mentioning the man who actually won the race. Lachie “not Lachlan because it makes me think my mum’s angry at me” Kennedy is the bio-mechanical opposite of Gout. Fast out of the blocks, the 21-year-old runs like the T-1000. But while John Connor’s nemesis was sent back in time, Kennedy is hurtling forward through athletics history.
Four weeks ago he became the equal third-fastest Australian over 100m. Last week he won the country’s first world indoor 60m medal, a silver in China. Saturday’s race made him the fifth-fastest Australian over 200m. His 20.26sec is just 0.22sec off Gout’s national record from December, and was done at a meet marked by complaints from athletes of windy, cold and slow conditions.
Kennedy said last week in his confident, jovial manner that Gout has brought new fans to athletics, to the benefits of all athletes. But there is no doubt that without his fellow Queenslander there would be much more ink written about the former rugby union winger.
He grinned when he said he was sorry to spoil the night of some attendees who came to see the teenager set another record, “but what a great race, you can’t be upset about watching something like that”.
The drama was broadcast live on Channel Seven’s main channel into Sydney and Melbourne in yet more evidence of athletics’ elevated stature, and the enthusiasm of those there underscored the sport’s great potential.
Afterwards, Gout went to take photos with the crowd along the fence, which had surged in size and was now four phones deep, many chanting “Gout, Gout, Gout”. Even the teenager’s cool-headed coach, Di Sheppard, admitted Saturday’s attention was a surprise. “I was a bit, nearly – not overwhelmed – but taken aback a little bit,” she said.
At the end of his suffocating media scrum, Gout was asked if he still feels normal. “Life is never normal,” he replied. “You’ve got the ups and downs, you’ve got the halos, you’ve got the rocks, you’ve got the sand, you’ve got the fire. So it’s definitely not normal, but it’s something I can get used to and something I can cope with.”
