In the arc of life, childhood slips by in an instant. Faster, if you are Gout Gout. Already the swiftest in Australia, he is crouched on the cusp of adulthood, soon to cross the threshold into what may come next. The 17-year-old sprinter will not complete high school in Brisbane’s suburbs until the end of this year, but in the sporting realm he graduates this week. At his first major senior meet, the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, expectations abound.
The results show he is ready for more than what Australia can offer. Gout eclipsed Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian 200m record last year and became national champion in April. He has run sub-10 secs in the 100m and sub-20 secs in his favoured 200m – the only event in which he will compete in Tokyo – even if windy conditions have barred those performances from the record books. No Australian has officially gone under both marks.
