The anticipation was on a fever high at the Maurie Plant Meet on March 28 in Melbourne. After all, it was the showdown of two Aussie up-and-coming stars. On one side was the teenage sensation Gout Gout, who has fresh from his record-breaking run. Meanwhile, on the other side was Lachlan Kennedy, who had just snagged a silver at the World Indoors at Nanjing. But while the whole track and field community was shocked at the teenager Gout’s loss, it seems he still has his biggest supporter. Who are we talking about? Well, his coach, of course.

It was a tough moment for the youngster. After all, he just had his undefeated streak broken. But in his recent YouTube video, Coach Rob defended Gout on his recent loss. He talked about the hype that has been created around the track and field star, “It’s pretty clear that the hype train has definitely left the station. The only question is, where is that train actually going to go? Gout Gout is supposed to be the next greatest ever. That’s why there’s all this hype around it.” The 17-year-old did break Usain Bolt‘s records, so he might be on that list. 

Further going down on the hype, he explained how social media has made the world smaller and everybody can see the race from any part of the world. He brought to notice that, other than Gout, nobody else from that roster lined up on file would be recognized by any other person. His very next comment explained the irony of this hype.

He said, “But the entire field was a bunch of men who had all run for the most part around 20 point seconds. And the slowest man out of all of them was the same man who eventually got the victory, Lockie Kennedy himself.” The coach also asked about the world’s response now that the Aussie will be running professional races. He also said that the athlete must not go back to dominating junior races after running a continental one because” it’d have the exact same effect. It’s the anticipation from those races that led up to this one.” 

Gout had a lot of hype from his number-one finishes. Though most of these races were against juniors who couldn’t even come near the marks of the fastest 16-year-old. Rob then dwelt on the commentators’ words that said, “Every runner in Australia will now be training even harder because they want to beat Gout Gout.“ Why would that be? For that, Rob first explained what the 17-year-old brings to the race.

He said, “Because when Gout Gout enters the race, he doesn’t just bring himself anymore. He brings all the cameras and all the attention that goes along with it.” So beating him on a big stage means that “sponsors are looking, promoters are looking, everybody’s watching this moment.” Rob explained how viewers want to see who’s in the front of the race, and the Aussie as well.

So if an opponent can get in front of a 17-year-old, there just might be some results beyond just the victory that you can get from it. “Gout Gout does have a target on his back. I’m not saying that I put it there. It just is what it is.” Rob said. Gout lost to Kennedy by a very close margin, a matter of fact, Kennedy himself said, five more meters and he would have lost. On the other hand, Gout has also taken the defeat pretty well. 

Gout Gout reacts to his loss

The Australian track and field athlete might have lost his streak. Gout can be shocked by the crowd’s reaction. But the 17-year-old is also just a kid. After the loss, he told the press, “I just keep it simple, still a kid, still in high school, so can’t expect too much from me. I just keep it balanced by doing my work in school and then doing as much work as I can in school.“ But why does he do that? Well, “so I don’t have to go out of school, outside of training.“

Kennedy might have outrun him, but Gout is just being a kid. He continued, “keeping it simple, keeping it chill, not putting too much pressure on myself and just being out there and just being a kid.” And he is also satisfied with the silver. He said, “Winning feels great, second is bad, and third feels even worse, so coming second, something you can experience and definitely feels it puts fuel to my fire.“

The Aussie athlete even congratulated Kennedy in the interview, saying that it was a rivalry and he loved him. Gout also ventured into the philosophical aspect of his loss, saying,” Life is never normal, you’ve got the ups and downs, you’ve got the hurdles, you’ve got the rocks, you’ve got the sand, you’ve got the fire” He further agreed that this might not be normal but he will cope with it. Quite wise for a 17-year-old, don’t you think?