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Olympic gold medalist and Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo praised Australia's Gout Gout and said that he could be one of the best sprinters ever. Gout Gout is seen as one of Australia's most exciting talents right now and has already achieved massively at the age of 17. Gout famously ran a 100m race at the Queensland Athletics Championships in March 2024 in a time of 10.29 seconds.
Tebogo made his feelings clear on the teenage sensation, and he said that he could be Australia's next big thing. Tebogo made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first person from Botswana to win a gold medal in any sport. He has also secured medals at the World Championships, and holds the U20 World Record for the 100m, with his fastest time being clocked at 9.91 seconds.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Tebogo said that Gout has one of the most promising futures in track and field given his current form. He said:
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“He can be one of the best, he could be in the history books if he continues with the hunger that he has right now, he could go very far.”
He continued by giving Gout's coach and inner circle a key piece of advice - to help him take things slow and not always allow him to compete in open races.
“My advice to his coach and people around him would be – even if he can beat these seniors on Saturday – don’t let him stay too much on the seniors, because everybody is watching. If he beats the seniors, what’s going to be next? So after this, back to his age [group] and slowly but surely, he will get there,” Tebogo added.
Gout and Tebogo are set to compete in the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne, but will not race against each other. The Australian will be running the Peter Norman Memorial 200m while Tebogo is set to race in the 400m event.
What prompted Tebogo's praise of Gout Gout?
Australian track star prodigy Gout Gout is headlining the world of track and field right now, and most notably went viral for running a 100m in Brisbane in a staggering 10.29 seconds. His parents, Monica and Bona, named him Guot initially, but that became Gout due to an Arabic spelling error.
Gout is one of the seven children in his family and was born in Brisbane in 2007. The 17-year-old has already etched his name in the history books by breaking Usain Bolt's 200m record for 16-year-olds (20.13) clocking 20.04s in the 200m race at the Australian All Schools Championships last year. In doing so he also broke Peter Norman’s Oceanian record (20.06) that had stood since 1968.
He also finished the 200m race at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in 20.60s to win the silver medal, breaking yet another record that a 15-year-old Bolt managed in 2002 (20.61s). Gout has been asked about the comparisons being made between him and the Jamaican, to which he replied:
“At times it does get a bit overwhelming but, now that I’ve grown up, I’m a bit mature and my circle really helps me stay level and I’m just trying to make a name for myself. My dream is I want to be one of the best athletes track and field and Australia has ever seen." [via Olympics.com]
Gout Gout is set to compete next at the Maurie Plant Meet on March 29th. The Maurie Plant Meet is part of the World Athletics Continental tour and will be hosting some of the world's finest athletes, including Letsile Tebogo.
