Perth: That Gout Gout would win was not really the question in the end, even though he is a boy and he was racing against men. He has already scotched concerns that age among his countrymen was an issue, for neither boy nor man can match him over 200 metres yet again.
Gout Gout’s legend has grown to another level.Credit: Getty Images
His keenest rivals – Lachie Kennedy and Calab Law – were both missing from the final, Law having withdrawn, and Kennedy stunningly disqualified after a second false start in the 200m for the meet. So the question on this hot Perth afternoon at the national championships was only whether Gout could break 20 seconds – and he did, in 19.84, albeit with another illegal tailwind (+2.2m) at his back.
It marked the second time in days that he’d broken the coveted 20-second barrier, only to be denied by the weather.
This is the stage he has already reached as an athlete, he is competing against himself more than the field. He is chasing records as much as titles.
In perfect conditions in Perth (31 degrees), he ran 20.21s for the heat – virtually jogging the last 60 metres once he realised he had safeguarded a place in the finals.
As a 16-year-old at the schoolboys championships in Queensland in December, he broke Peter Norman’s 200m record that had stood since the Mexico Olympics in 1968.
More to come
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