10 hours ago
Top politician congratulates Gout Gout on his record-breaking run - and the responses will make you ashamed to be an Australian
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli's tweet congratulating Aussie sprinter Gout Gout on his latest record-breaking run has unleashed a wave of disgraceful racist abuse aimed at the 17-year-old.
Crisafulli was praising Gout after he stormed to victory at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic on Tuesday in a time of 20.02 seconds, breaking his own Australian 200m record.
'A Queenslander showing the world how it's done. Congratulations on another incredible run Gout Gout,' he wrote on X.
But what followed was a series of deplorable comments about the sprinter, who was born in the Brisbane suburb of Ipswich.
'Low bar to qualify as a Queenslander these days,' read one of the tamest comments in the thread.
Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to publish any of the other responses to the tweet.
Some sports fans called out the awful behaviour.
'Born and bred in Queensland. These comments are a joke. Proud of the lad,' one wrote.
'Great achievement! And a great Aussie Guy - this is what our country is built on,' another commented.
'He's an Australian ffs. F**k QLDers are insufferable with this sort of s**t,' added a third.
This is not the first time Gout has been subjected to racism as he stamps himself as one of the brightest up-and-coming talents in world athletics.
In December last year athletics commentator Tim Rosen chose to delete a post he made featuring one of Gout's runs because of the deplorable comments it attracted.
Many of those remarks, like the ones in response to Crisafulli's post, claimed Gout should not be thought of as Australian.
That same month the Age newspaper issued an apology after it was hit with allegations of racism for confusing Gout with Aussie runner Peter Bol - who was born in Sudan - on its front page.
Up against the highest-quality field he has ever faced, with two of his competitors having broken the 20-second mark, the Aussie blitzed the last 20 metres to pull ahead of Cuban star Reynier Mena in his sensational victory.
'Get some more races in me and it [the 20-second barrier] will drop for sure,' Gout said after the event.
'I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race.
'I don't feel any pressure, because as soon as I step out on that track, it's must me by myself and what I've got to do - my favourite thing, and that's to run.
'So I just go out there and run and nothing stops me from doing that.
'I've felt stronger in training these last couple of months and I've felt good since I got to Europe last Thursday.
'I knew Mena would come hard at me in the first 100 but I was confident I'd be close enough to come home strongly in the second part of the race, which is, of course, my stronger part.
'I felt calm but strong as I came off the turn and was confident I'd be strong enough to get the win.
