Sprint sensation Gout Gout's ‘crazy, big-money' sacrifice to stay in Australia
All of the biggest sporting companies around the globe have come calling for Australia's schoolboy sprint sensation, flashing big-money deals but with strings attached.
These included moving overseas to high-end training facilities in places like Jamaica, the home of the world's fastest man Usain Bolt.
But Gout's manager James Templeton has repeatedly knocked back the advances, preferring to leave the 17-year-old around his family and current support system with coach Di Sheppard in Ipswich.
After breaking Peter Norman's 56-year-old national 200m record in December at the Australian All-Schools Championships, Gout signed one of the biggest deals in Australian athletics history with Adidas.
'JT (Templeton) told me how much they were willing to pay to get me on their side,' Gout told GQ.
'It was crazy. The number kept getting higher and I realised how much these companies think I'm worth.
'But that sponsorship really helps you get to the next level because obviously you need the money to travel and to train. Especially since I'm at school, so I don't need to go and find a job at Maccas or whatever to put fuel in my car. It definitely helps a lot.'
Gout, who lives at home with his six brothers and sisters and parents who fled South Sudan 20 years ago, says he hasn't splashed out with any of his new-found riches yet.
'Long term, I'd like to set myself up and set my family up,' he says. 'I've saved a lot and I bought myself a new car when I got my Ps, so that's probably the biggest purchase I've made so far. I haven't gone crazy.'
He describes the attention he's received since his breakthrough performances last year as 'crazy'.
'People asking me for photos and things of that nature, it's definitely surreal. It's crazy to think how far I've come. But it's given me perspective to see how far I can actually go, as well.'
His next big race is in Europe during the July school holidays where he'll compete in the U/23 Diamond League event in Monaco before setting his sights on the world athletics championships in Tokyo in September.
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