Gout Gout overcomes illness to win 200m title at Queensland championships
Gut Gut knew he could run fast when things were good. He didn’t know if he could run fast without them. That’s what he’s doing now.
Gout, who was bedridden with a head and chest cold due to the illness he suffered over the weekend and had to sleep for hours between races, won the semi and then the 200 meters final at the Queensland Athletics Championships.
Gut Gut was embraced by her mother, Monica Gout, after her victory in the 200 meters.Credit: Getty Images
To confirm to herself that she could perform in the challenges, she ran a time of 20.42 seconds against the wind and wrapped up the state championship with a hug from her mother, Monica.
“To know [that]Even if I’m sick I can go out and perform, it definitely builds endurance,” Gout said.
Acknowledging that this was a small state championship event in front of a small number of people and not a major title, he still took confidence from the lesson that he could push himself when it mattered.
“It wasn’t about the times, it was about getting wins and holding my own in the races. I’ve been in a bit of a mood the last few days but that doesn’t change.” [the task] – you have to go out there and run your race,” he said.
“Knowing if you can do it at a state championship, knowing that it’s not a big competition, so being sick isn’t going to affect you too much, that builds endurance. But you use that to build endurance and [I now] I know if I can do it at the state championships, if unfortunately I get sick at an Olympics or something like that, I can back it up and keep going.
Meanwhile, in Adelaide, 18-year-old Daniel Williams ran the 800 m in 1:44.37 and became one of the names that will threaten the under-20 world podium in the same team with Gout this year.
