By Ben Talintyre

Copyright news

For Aussie teen phenom Gout Gout, while he has all of the above, his secret weapon is his unique partnership with coach and mentor Di Sheppard.

Sheppard discovered Gout when she saw him doing a sprint across a rugby field at Ipswich Grammar School.

She immediately knew Gout, who was a soccer player at the time, was special.

After watching Gout, who was in Grade 7 at the time, glide across the school oval in 2020, Sheppard told Gout that he’d win an Olympic gold if he trained with her, as she desperately tried to convince him to be part of her training squad.

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Sheppard has been the athletics coach at Ipswich Grammar for more than two decades, and despite Gout being just 12, she saw all the makings of a star.

Since convincing him to join her, Sheppard has transformed Gout, not just on the track but off it.

Unique to her style of mentorship, Sheppard doesn’t produce just talented athletes; she produces complete humans, who are resilient, adaptable and all-round good people, not built on ego but grounded in honesty and accountability.

And in a rare insight into her methods, with Australian Athletics, Sheppard revealed each of her athletes repeats daily affirmations such as “I am good. I am great. I am invincible”, as one of several off-track methods to build indestructible stars.

Daily affirmations are just one tool in Sheppard’s arsenal.

She individually adapts her programs to fit her athletes, using varied cues and changing training methods to best fit the runner’s physical traits and learning style.

“If a cue isn’t working for one kid, I’ll change it — sometimes to something completely unexpected — to get them where they need to be,” she explained.

Equally important to Sheppard is fostering a deep love for the journey, not just the end result.

“When athletes focus on enjoying the journey, they’re more likely to stay engaged, motivated, and resilient over the long haul,” she says.

“I tell them from day one: the rewards will come because of the journey, not in spite of it. Success is about more than medals — it’s about seeing your own progress and loving what you do along the way.”

That is perfectly illustrated in her interaction with Gout after the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships, where he broke the Australian 200m sprint record set by Peter Norman 56 years ago at just 16 years of age, in a scorching 20.04.

After becoming the fastest 200m Australian athlete of all-time, Gout said to Sheppard the following week, “What we did was pretty big, hey?”

Sheppard replied: “Yeah, it was really big, but we aren’t acting like it, are we?”

To which Gout nodded and said: “No, we’re not.”

Sheppard says it is key to make sure the Aussie teen phenom remains focused on the journey, rather than the end goal of winning an Olympic gold medal.

“In our conversations, I always remind him that we’re here to enjoy the journey, to see each step as an experience that adds to who he is as an athlete and a person. It’s about ticking a box, yes, but it’s never about letting that box define you,” Sheppard said.

It is that mindset that has seen Gout stay remarkably grounded despite frequent comparisons to the likes of Usain Bolt.

But trying to squash down expectations are becoming increasingly hard given the fact many Aussies are already convinced it is a matter of when, not if, he becomes an Olympic champion.

Gout will be 24 when the Olympics are in his hometown of Brisbane in 2032, and there is a sense of timing about it.

But first, he will attempt to win a medal at the world championships this week in Tokyo, in his maiden appearance.

Gout will be the youngest Australian male to appear at a world championships when he takes to the track for his 200m heat on Wednesday night (AEDT).

According to Sportsbet, Gout is the fourth favourite to take out the 200m event, which would be an incredible achievement at just 17 years of age.

Gout decided to forego the opportunity to run in the 100m to instead focus solely on his preferred 200m.

He recently ran a legal 20.02s in the 200m at the Golden Spike Ostrava on June 24, breaking his own national record in the event by 0.02s in what was the second-fastest under-18 time ever posted in the 200m.

Gout also ran a wind-assisted 19.98s (+3.6) over the distance at the Queensland Athletics Championships in March.

Despite his undeniable talent, Gout will still need to go to a whole new level if he is to medal at the world championships this week, as he comes up against reigning 100m and 200m Olympic champions Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo.

His bid will kick off on Wednesday, with Gout drawn in the fifth of six heats, with the top three in each race and the next six fastest going through to the semis the following day.

It is a relatively good heat for Gout, with only Makanakaishe Charamba of Zimbabwe and Jamaican Bryan Levell cracking the 20-second mark.

What time is Gout Gout running?

The men’s 200m heats will get underway at 9.15pm (AEST) on Wednesday.

Given that Gout is running in the fifth of sixth heats, he will likely take to the track around 9.20pm.

You can watch his race live on SBS.