{"id":467415,"date":"2026-02-09T00:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467415\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T00:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:16:11","slug":"gout-gout-opts-out-of-commonwealth-games-as-he-seeks-to-follow-in-usain-bolts-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467415\/","title":{"rendered":"Gout Gout opts out of Commonwealth Games as he seeks to follow in Usain Bolt’s footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has decided not to compete at this year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, choosing to focus on the world under-20 championships, where he hopes to emulate the legendary Usain Bolt.<\/p>\n

The two events are back-to-back in the northern hemisphere summer and the 18-year-old Gout and his support team have deemed it would be unwise to contest both so early in his burgeoning career.<\/p>\n

“It is [a big decision],” Gout told the Seven Network.<\/p>\n

“[The Commonwealth Games] is a great event and it’s one of those big meetings everyone loves.<\/p>\n

“But looking at it, it is definitely a better decision going for the world under-20s.”<\/p>\n

The August 5-9 meet \u2014 formerly known as the world junior championships \u2014 will take place in Eugene, Oregon, at the same stadium that hosted the 2022 world championships.<\/p>\n

Before going on to dominate world sprinting and rewrite the record books, Bolt kicked off his career with 200m gold at the 2002 world juniors.<\/p>\n

Gout \u2014 who was second in the half-lap race at the world under-20 championships in Lima at the age of 16 \u2014 has often spoken of his wish to emulate Bolt’s feat.<\/p>\n

\"Gout<\/p>\n

Gout Gout is hoping to emulate Usain Bolt by winning the 200m at the U20 world championships. (AP: Petr David Josek)<\/p>\n

The Queenslander has become a cult figure after exploding onto the global athletics scene less than two years ago.<\/p>\n

After breaking Peter Norman’s 56-year-old 200m national record in late 2024, Gout made global headlines in 2025 with a world championships debut and 200m semifinal appearance in Japan.<\/p>\n

He had been flagged as a potential 100m medallist in Glasgow, and his absence will be a significant blow to the Australian team and the event as a whole.<\/p>\n

But Australian Commonwealth Games team chef de mission Petria Thomas said she understood the teenager’s decision to pull out of the Games, which run from July 23 to August 2.<\/p>\n

“Gout is a remarkable talent, and although he won’t be in Glasgow, we hope to see him don the green and gold at a Commonwealth Games in the future,” Thomas said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important that we all remember he is 18 and remains on the rise.<\/p>\n

“He has a long career ahead of him and we respect his decision to prioritise the world under-20 championships as he builds towards a home Olympic Games at Brisbane 2032.”<\/p>\n

Australian Athletics also supported Gout’s decision to focus on the junior championships.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has decided not to compete at this year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, choosing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,16742,8328,16741,85,93466,25247],"class_list":{"0":"post-467415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-commonwealth-games","11":"tag-glasgow","12":"tag-gout-gout","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-usain-bolt","15":"tag-world-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}