Gout Gout: Usain Bolt urges Australian teenage sprint star to stay focused on track and field
Eighteen-year-old sprint star Gout Gout already tipped as potential gold medallist for Brisbane Olympics in 2032; world record holder in 200m and 100m Usain Bolt advises Australian youngster to "keep focused on track and field" amid other distractions
Tuesday 21 April 2026 11:11, UK
Usain Bolt has urged Australia's teenage sprint star Gout Gout to stay focused on track and field amid other distractions that come with being in the spotlight.
Gout, even at his young age, is already earning comparisons with the Jamaican sprinting great and being talked up as a potential gold medallist when Brisbane hosts the Olympics in 2032.
Gout won the 200 metres at the Australian Athletics Championships earlier this month in a time of 19.67, while he was also victorious in the Under-20 100m event in 10.21 seconds.
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Bolt is the world record holder in the 200m at 19.19 seconds, and the 100m in 9.58.
"At that young age, because I was there, you start getting put left and right and then you forget track and field," eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt said of Gout on CNN.
"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.
"But if you mess up on track and field, then it all goes away."
Gout is set to make his Diamond League debut in the 200m in Oslo on June 10, lining up alongside reigning Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana.
He has indicated he will skip the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer to focus on the World Under-20 Championships in Oregon in August.
