Olympic great Usain Bolt has offered sprint sensation Gout Gout some important advice while telling the young Aussie he needed to prepare for an upcoming reality check.
The 18-year-old’s time was quicker than Bolt ran at the same age before he went on to be the most decorated sprinter of all time.
The fastest Bolt ran as an under-20 athlete was 19.93 in 2004.
Despite describing Gout as a ‘massive young talent’, Bolt said it was his moves off the track that he needed to pay attention to.
Speaking to CNN Sport, Bolt said Gout needed to surround himself with the right people.
Olympic great Usain Bolt had some advice for Aussie Gout Gout after he captured the attention of the sprinting world at the recent Australian titles
Gout Gout recently ran 19.67 seconds in the 200m to break his own national record
Gout will target the world under 20s titles later in the year
‘At that young age, because I was there, you start getting pulled left and right and then you forget track and field,’ he said.
‘Hopefully, he has the right set of people to guide him and keep him focused on track and field because the rest of the stuff will always be there.’
After Gout broke his own Australian 200m record at the national athletics championships, he was forced to deal with ‘haters’ who questioned his time.
The likes of former Olympic gold medallist Justin Gatlin and US College sprinter Erin Brown cast doubt on Gout’s glittering achievement, with the latter incorrectly stating the Brisbane teenager was significantly aided by an illegal tailwind.
The 200m run was legal, with a 1.7m/s tailwind at Sydney Olympic Park.
Brown declared Gout will be a ‘laughing stock’ and has been ‘set up for failure’ when he competes overseas in Diamond League meets later this year.
‘I thought we really witnessed something special… a million people text me, man, Gout Gout just ran 19.6,’ Brown told his social media followers.
‘That made me inclined to go check the results. Not gonna lie, and if you say this s**t is hating, your ass is coping, because you wanna be different.
Bolt warned Gout about entering open age competition
Gout Gout’s triumph in Sydney prompted US track star Erin Brown (pictured, right) to suggest the time over 200m was ‘fake’ and wind assisted
‘This s**t is clearly fake. Obviously, overtly, this is as fake as it comes.’
Gout was questioned by journalists about some ‘salty’ comments emerging from America – and he laughed off the criticism.
‘There are always going to be haters, if you’ve got haters it means you’re doing something right,’ he said.
‘It is what it is, I never take it (to heart), I just keep running… obviously, it (200m time) was pretty fast, so that’s maybe why they (haters) were a bit mad.
‘It motivates me to do it in even bigger races, for sure.’
Bolt, who holds the 200m world record of 19.19, which was set in 2009, also warned Gout about entering open age athletics, which isn’t far away.
Dominating his own age group is one thing, but taking on all comers is another, Bolt said.
‘I remember coming out of high school going on the circuit, I felt like I was on top of the world because I was winning and running good,’ he said.
‘When I got on the circuit, I didn’t win one race. I know it’s going to be an eye-opener, and I hope it doesn’t get him down but motivate him to work even harder.
‘I think in the first year you will learn a lot and understand what you need to do to be better. He’s a massive young talent.’
Gout’s next major target will be the world under-20 championships, in Eugene, Oregon, in August.
It will be his final world under 20s performance before he enters open age competition.
He will get a dose of open age competition when he makes his senior Diamond League debut in June in Oslo, Norway.
He’s expected to face 2024 Paris Olympics 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo in Oslo. Tebogo’s 200m personal best is 19.46 seconds – two tenths faster than Gout’s recent best time.
