Australian teenage sprint phenomenon Gout Gout has declared his legs are “ready to rumble” ahead of his major international debut on Wednesday at the World Athletics Championships.
The 17-year-old participated in a panel session with international press on Monday, his only pre-meet media opportunity, as he prepares to contest the 200m in Tokyo. Gout was asked what his legs would tell him if they could talk.
“They’ll be ready to go, like in F1 when the cars are warming up the tyres,” he said, making a swerving gesture with his hands. “They’ll be just … ready to rumble, that’s what they’d say.”
The confident teenager admitted he does have some nerves ahead of his major international debut.
“[I have] a few butterflies [in my stomach], but I’ve done the work to be here, so it’s just going out there and executing the race plan,” he said. “It’s going out there, having a little bit of fun and just focusing the best I can and just going out there and enjoying my first experience.”
He said he has been starstruck at times when he comes across the world’s top athletic talent around him in Tokyo.
“I’m seeing these athletes I’ve seen on TV my whole life. I’m like, this is crazy,” he said. “But when I think about it, I kind of deserve this place and I have run the times, so I was meant to be here for sure.”
He explained his main goal was to improve on his personal best time of 20.02sec.
“Hopefully if I can make it to the semis, that’s even greater, and then if I make it into the final that’s a big success,” he said.
The year 12 student said he was considering studying psychology at university, perhaps after a gap year, and was most interested in its application to sport.
He revealed he has been working on his mindset to ensure he performs to his ability in Tokyo.
“Just telling myself that I deserve to be here, I’m in the same boat as everyone else,” he said. “Not trying to put too much pressure on myself, but putting enough pressure where I can go out there and just run very fast and just really have fun with it.”
The Australian said he has appreciated learning from Noah Lyles, the American sprinter who shares the same sponsor.
“The advice Noah gave me is ‘learn how to say no’ because obviously you can’t say yes all the time, so learning how to say no,” he said.
“It might make you feel uncomfortable, [but] you don’t have to explain yourself as well, because being an athlete you’re going through different stages in life, and you’ve got to say no because you’ve got to have your own personal time.”
