Gout Gout breaks national record to win 200m in European debut

Australian teen running sensation Gout Gout has broken his own national record to win the 200m at the Ostrava Golden Spike* in a perfect European debut*.

The 17-year-old Queensland schoolboy took a pause from his Year 12 studies to put his flag in the ground and the athletics world on notice, clocking 20.02sec at the prestigious race in the Czech Republic.

Against the toughest field he’d ever faced, Gout chased down Cuba’s Reynier Mena over the final 20m to lower his career best 200m record by 0.02sec.

Gout’s astounding performance once again drew comparisons to the great Usain Bolt*.

It was the same venue where Bolt made his European debut as a 17-year-old. Interestingly, the world’s greatest sprinter ran 19.93sec close to his 18th birthday, while Gout’s 18th birthday is still more than six months away.

“Get some more races in me and it (20 seconds) will drop for sure,” Gout said. “I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race. I don’t feel any pressure. Because as soon as I step out on that track, it’s just me by myself and what I’ve got to do — my favourite thing, and that’s to run.

“So, I just go out there and run and nothing stops me from doing that. I’ve felt stronger in training these last couple of months and I’ve felt good since I got to Europe last Thursday.

“I knew Mena would come hard at me the first 100 but I was confident I’d be close enough to come home strongly in the second part of the race, which is of course my stronger part.

“I felt calm but strong as I came off the turn and was confident I’d be strong enough to get the win.”

Mena, who was coming off a victory at the Stockholm Diamond League, finished in 20.19sec with Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake next in 20.60s.

Gout Gout has been compared with Bolt ever since he broke Peter Norman’s* 56-year-old Australian 200m record, clocking 20.04sec as a 16-year-old in December.

He then ran a wind-assisted* 19.84sec in April at the national championships as well as an illegal* 9.99sec for the 100m.

In the lead-up to the Golden Spike, Gout was asked about the comparisons with Bolt.

“It definitely feels great to be compared to Bolt,” Gout said.

“I’ve heard that a lot of sprinters run here really good. I know Usain Bolt ran here nine times, so the event clearly has a great tradition.

“Who doesn’t want to be Usain Bolt? Being compared to Usain Bolt feels great, but I would like to put my personality in the upcoming story.”

“The main goal of the season is obviously world championships (in Tokyo in September). Let’s see what I can do on the world stage against professional athletes. Hopefully I can run fast and perform well.”

It was a stellar night for Australia, with another teenager Cameron Myers running a personal best 3min 29.80sec in the 1500m, a new national U/20 record, while Peter Bol wound back the clock, winning the 800m in 1:43.80sec, just .01sec off his own national record.

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GLOSSARY

• debut: first time racing in Europe
• Golden Spike: a yearly gold level athletics event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where numerous world records have been set over the course of its history
• Usain Bolt: a retired runner from Jamaica who is considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time
• Peter Norman: an Australian runner who won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, clocking a time of 20.06 seconds, which remained the Oceania record for 56 years
• wind-assisted: when a strong enough wind is present during the race it is considered to have aided the athlete’s performance meaning their result can’t count towards any records
• illegal: not counted for the record books because the tailwind was too strong

EXTRA READING
Stawell storm after Gout loss
Gout Gout beaten by Aussie rival
Aussie teen smashes sprint record

QUICK QUIZ
1. What time did Gout Gout run at the Golden Spike?
2. By how much did he break his previous record?
3. What distance was the race?
4. Which country is the Golden Spike held in?
5. Who came second place in the race?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Why the rule?
Why do you think there are rules that make some running times illegal? Brainstorm as many ideas as you can think of. Use information in the story to help you.

Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
How important is the way an athlete like Gout thinks to his performance? Use information from the story and perhaps your research skills to find out. Use the information that you have found to create a poster that will help another kid understand what you have learned about this question.

Time: allow at least 60 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.