Editorial: Gout Gout announces intentions eight years before Brisbane 2032

Gout Gout is the hottest junior athlete in the world right now, doing things at 16 even Usain Bolt wasn’t doing, writes the editor.

When people talk about the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane they invariably focus on the venues – or the lack of them.

While it is now three-and-a-half years since we were bestowed this incredible honour, we still don’t have a clear idea of where the venues will be and what, if any, legacy they will leave to South East Queensland.

The void in planning has been filled with conjecture. Everyone has their opinion about venues and how Brisbane can use the 2032 Games to transform the city.

What hasn’t really been discussed is the sport. Who do we expect to shine on the world stage? Who will provide Brisbane with the “Cathy Freeman moment”, as The Courier-Mail’s chief sports reporter Robert Craddock calls it?

With the Olympic Games still 2792 days away, they are silly questions. So much can happen in the life and career of any athlete in seven and a half years.

But at least now we have a name, and an unforgettable one at that.

Ipswich’s Gout Gout is the hottest junior athlete in the world right now. He’s doing things at 16 that even the incomparable Usain Bolt wasn’t doing.

And on the weekend in Brisbane he broke one of the most revered records in Australian athletics – Peter Norman’s 200m mark of 20.06sec set as he won a silver medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Norman was of course immortalised in a photograph moments later, standing between, and supporting, American athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith as they made their Black Power salute on the dais.

Gout lowered that mark to 20.04sec. The day before he ran 10.04sec in the 100m, albeit wind assisted.

And it’s not just the times that are startling. It is the way Gout covers the ground – particularly in the last 30m of a race.

He seems to almost fly, with his feet barely touching the ground. Gout himself said when he gets it right it feels like he’s floating.

Social media has been full of clips of Gout’s finishing burst for months.

Those in Gout’s camp, including coach Di Sheppard, are careful to manage expectations, but they also know this kid is special.

Farmer said on Saturday that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics were in Gout’s sights, but it will be four years later in Brisbane that he really hits his stride.

“We’re going for double gold, that’s the plan in Brisbane,” she told The Courier-Mail’s athletics reporter Scott Gullen matter-of-factly.

It is some goal. It is actually breathtaking.

An Aussie claiming the sprint double at the Olympics, let alone a home one, would be the greatest sporting achievement by an Australian, hands down.

It would eclipse Don Bradman’s Test average off 99.94, Cadel Evan’s Tour de France victory, Australia II’s America’s Cup triumph or any of the swimming exploits of Dawn Fraser, Ian Thorpe, Emma McKeon or Ariarne Titmus.

Gout has already started his journey. He knows there is a hell of a lot of hard work between now and 2032 to make his dreams become reality, but he seems like a wonderfully grounded kid with a great team around him.

We’re all on that journey now and we must support him.

MISSED CHANCE TO TAKE STAND

It shouldn’t have taken Prime Minister Anthony Albanese two days to label a firebombing attack on a Melbourne synagogue as an act of terrorism.

His failure to do so earlier – and even yesterday he only stated that was his personal view, not the official designation of Friday morning’s firebombing – has been pounced on by the opposition, and for good reason.

With his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu linking the attack to the Australian government’s “extreme anti-Israel position”, Mr Albanese wasted the opportunity to send a strong message to Australia’s Jewish community.

Accused of being anti-Semitic, Mr Albanese played semantics.

Jewish Australians feel abandoned by their government.

“Their inaction, ongoing anti-Israel, anti-Jewish rhetoric, has caused this and their continued inaction is fuelling these barbarians to continue to create the circumstances of Nazi Europe,” a member of the Ripponlea Synagogue congregation said yesterday.

Whether such a strong accusation is correct is hardly the point. This is how the vast majority of Jewish Australians feel, and Mr Albanese has a duty to assuage those fears. A firebombing on a place of worship during a time of global tension is clearly an act of terror and should have been called out by the Prime Minister at the earliest opportunity.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here