Sprinter Gout Gout is aiming to turn into a family identify in athletics, however the 17-year-old’s coach Di Sheppard has warned that he should quit rather a lot to get there
Gout Gout has been given a stark warning by his coach, Di Sheppard, that his life will not be like that of a median 17-year-old, with socialising off the playing cards in the interim.
The teenage sprinting sensation is making waves within the sprinting world, having already received a nationwide championship and seemingly on the quick monitor to worldwide fame in athletics. But it surely’s not all about velocity on the monitor; there’s quite a lot of sacrifice concerned too, and coach Sheppard is decided to arrange Gout for a future crammed with victories.
Talking to The Guardian, she praised the younger athlete’s “emotional intelligence” however confused that his “huge skill” means he’ll should let go of typical teenage experiences.
Sheppard mentioned: “I have been telling him for a few years that after we get to a set level, your social life shall be just about non-existent, within the sense you simply cannot exit the place you need.
“He is at that time just about now, which is sort of robust once you suppose he is nonetheless in school.”
Sheppard additionally emphasised the significance of Gout conserving his eyes on the prize, with the 2032 Olympic Video games in Brisbane as his final goal – a stage the place he desires of sweeping the medals and shattering information.
She added: “Issues will plateau, that is a pure half. It has to come back to a, ‘Bang, OK, now we have to seek out our subsequent adaption part to go up’.
“For us to go to the highest – we’re nonetheless a great distance from there – and since we all know that is our finish aim, we do not get too wrapped up into the great issues that come. They’re stepping stones, and that is how I’ve tried to show Gout. There isn’t any clear path up.”
Gout has his sights set on Olympic glory and can be on monitor to problem extra of Usain Bolt’s legendary dash information.
Gout has already taken Bolt’s document for the quickest 200 metres by a 16-year-old, clocking an astonishing 20.04 seconds on the Australian All Faculties Championships in 2024.
This feat not solely surpassed Bolt’s 2003 time of 20.13 seconds but additionally shattered Peter Norman’s Oceanian document of 20.06 seconds, which had been unchallenged since 1968.
However Gout is not stopping there; he’s aiming for Bolt’s 100m document subsequent. The athlete already proven promise with two sub-10-second runs on the Australian Athletics Championships earlier this yr – though they had been wind-assisted, that means they do not formally depend.
Bolt’s 100m world document of 9.58 seconds was set on the age of twenty-two years outdated – and Gout shouldn’t be far behind with an unofficial 9.99 seconds proper now. The Australian’s performances at a a lot youthful age trace on the potential for him to topple the Jamaican dash king’s document within the not-too-distant future.