Gout Gout has taken the sprinting world by storm since racing onto the scene just a few years ago. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength, with the teenage sensation setting a blistering 19.67-second 200m time at the Australian National Championships in April.
While many have been left in awe of the young sprinter, some, primarily from America, have raised their eyebrows at the time. Questions have been posed by figures such as Erin Brown, who questioned whether the time was legitimate given the personal bests set by other runners in the same final. However, this is not the first time Brown has interjected himself into Gout's young career, claiming the athlete is being set up for failure and that he 'only races bums.'
Those taunts do not appear to be impacting Gout's preparations for the 2028 Olympics, as coach Di Sheppard has made it clear he will not be leaving Australia anytime soon. Sheppard, who has played a critical role in the success of the teenage sensation, joked that if she is stuck in Australia, then Gout will be stuck with her. The duo have worked together for over five years, yielding impressive results.
'They say this (Gout needs to relocate) because no Aussie has done it before, but no kid has run this speed before either,' Sheppard told the Courier Mail. 'And I'm supposedly not good. We've heard it all. But the thing is we have enough people behind us. We can go to people we value who can help us make sure Gout keeps improving.'
'Packing his bags totally and moving overseas? If Gout is stuck, then I'm stuck, too, and he has known that from day dot. When I say stay in Australia, we will probably go overseas and do training blocks, because if we can't provide the stimulus here, he needs to find the stimulus. But look at what we have got coming through now. We have the stimulus here. We have got it in comps. If they (quality Australian sprinters) keep coming through, we'll keep that cycle going.'
'The critics say we haven't done it outside Australia. But we have been outside Australia. We're not unproven. This kid is still maturing. The World Champs are coming up and Gout has 15 years left, so he has got time on his side.'
'Doesn't this criticism light up the world?' she said. 'It's what the sport needs. We can look at it as criticism but has it put the sport back on the world map? Yep. If that's what it takes, we will roll with it. If everyone is going to get bitter and twisted over commentary, then none of us will move forward. This is part of it for Gout. Read the football comments after a game when someone loses, it's no friggin' different. He has to get used to it. You will always have naysayers, so we will roll with it. We know we have to do it overseas. We're not stupid. We're not going into this with blinkers on.'
Despite Sheppard's defiance, the rising star is set to attend a training camp in America with fellow Adidas stablemate Noah Lyles. 'Yep, it will be a great experience for him,' Sheppard said as Gout flew out for the US. 'I'm not saying what he could do (racing Lyles) because we have to get there first and see how he pulls up. He has one race before that race (against Lyles). It (doing camps with Lyles) has been good for him. Because when you train with Noah Lyles, you learn about the intensity, the expectations, and how a group at that level – they are all just about Olympians – how they all gel together. There's a lot of big personalities, so it's how it all goes together, fitting in, it's like being in the schoolyard again isn't it? We've all done it at different stages of our lives. It's just another stage of him going into another schoolyard.'
Gout Gout has joined a training camp with Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles. Erin Brown has launched multiple attacks on the Queenslander, claiming that Gout has only raced 'bums' thus far in his career. Before questioning his 19.67, Brown said on his TikTok account: 'The next Usain Bolt got brutally destroyed at the world championships. Gout Gout, the 17-year-old from Australia who turns 18 in about two months, went out there and got embarrassed. You are a professional athlete now... you running (against) those little white kids in Australia running 22 seconds (over 200m). It's easy to run fast against nobody. Your body is relaxed, it's easy to maintain your posture and your form because you're not under pressure. He's never been in a race where it's been close and he's had people in front of him. He only races bums.'
Gaining experience in different environments is key to any athlete's success, and racing well against Lyles in an exhibition 150m contest could help quieten some of the critics.
