Jamaican sprinting icon Usain Bolt is backing Sebastian Coe for the IOC presidency.

Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt has made his pick for the seat of IOC president that has attracted seven candidates, among them World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe.

Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has made his pick for the hotly-contested seat of president of the International Olympics Committee (IOC).

 

The IOC elections will take place at the 144th IOC Session set to be held in Greece from March 18-21 and the presidential seat has attracted World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, the current IOC vice president, Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who would become the first woman to lead the body, and Frenchman David Lappartient, the World Cycling President.

 

Others are Jordanian Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Japanese businessman and international gymnastics head Morinari Watanabe and ski and snowboard federation boss Swedish-Briton Johan Eliasch.

 

Bolt, a legendary figure in athletics, is backing a man he knows too well for the top seat to succeed outgoing German Thomas Bach.

 

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Benni McCarthy leads first Harambee Stars training ahead of crucial World Cup qualifiers

President next week. Seb’s vision of Sport First, Tomorrow’s Generation, Athletes at the Heart, Growth and Empowerment is what is needed for the future of the Olympic movement,” Bolt posted on Instagram on Friday, throwing his weight behind Coe.

 

Coe, the 2012 London Olympics Organizing Committee chairman, has been World Athletics boss since 2015 and has made a number of promises if gets the IOC top seat, among them being to ensure transgender athletes are not allowed to compete, have prize money to Olympics medalists as well as hosting Olympics Games in Africa for the first time.

 

The two-time Olympics 1,500m champion, however, faces stiff competition from Samaranch and Coventry, who are considered frontrunners, and it remains to be seen if the endorsement from Bolt will help sway some votes his way.

 

Bolt is one of the most influential and respected voices, not just in track and field but in sport as a whole, given his legacy as the greatest sprinter of all-time thanks his 11 world titles and eight Olympics gold medals as well as being the 100m and 200m world record holder.

 

GB men win team sprint gold at Track Nations Cup

Harry Ledingham-Horn, Matthew Richardson and Harry Radford celebrates with their goal medals

Image caption, Matthew Richardson (centre) marked his first official meeting with the British squad with a gold

 

Matthew Richardson, Harry Ledingham-Horn and Harry Radford set a new British record on their way to gold in the men’s team sprint at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Turkey.

 

Having been the fastest in qualifying, the British trio posted a record time of 41.788 seconds in the first round, before Ledingham-Horn reversed a narrow deficit against Japan in the gold-medal ride.

 

“We worked really well as a team to glue it together,” said Richardson, who was competing with the GB squad for the first time since switching nationality from Australia.

 

“It was the first time we had ever raced as a team so we were learning every single ride and trying to take as much as we could from the one before.”

 

Meanwhile, Lowri Thomas, Lauren Bell and Rhian Edmunds took silver for Britain in the women’s team sprint, with the Netherlands proving too strong in the final race.

 

 

Gout Gout, Australia’s fastest man over the 200m distance, will be in action at the Queensland Athletics Championships 2025 in Brisbane this weekend.

 

The 17-year-old athlete will compete over 100m and 200m distances in the Under-20 age category.

 

The 100m race will be run on Saturday while the 200m race is scheduled on Sunday. Both U20 events will have a preliminary race followed by the final.

 

Gout Gout will first take the track in the 100m prelims at 7:02 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on Saturday. The races can be tracked live on live.athletic.net.

 

Gout Gout’s manager James Templeton expects competitive times from the teen sensation at the meet.

 

“It’s not impossible,” Templeton told Fox Sports Australia. “If everything is in his favour I think he’s a chance to run under 10 seconds anytime he races really.” He added that a sub-20 seconds in the 200m is also on the cards.

 

“He feels stronger, he feels faster, he’s pretty excited,” Templeton reasoned. “He’s looking forward to getting on the track and seeing what he’s got. Let’s see how the weekend goes.”

 

At the Queensland Athletics Championships 2025, Gout Gout will have an opportunity to become the first Australian athlete to break the 20-second barrier over the 200m distance after missing out in December.

 

In December, Gout Gout smashed the 200m senior national record at the Australian All Schools Championships in 20.04s, breaking Peter Norman’s mark of 20.06s from 1968.

 

Gout Gout opened his 2025 athletics season with two competitions in February.

 

He clocked 10.44s in 100m at the Sally Pearson Shield meet, held at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in Brisbane a week before timing 400m in 46.20s at the same venue.

 

Gout had a sensational run last year, which saw him win the Australian U20 100m title in Adelaide with a time of 10.48s. He represented Australia at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2024 in Lima, where he won the silver medal in the 200m, clocking 20.60s.

 

Queensland Athletics Championships 2025: Gout Gout schedule and live race start times

All times in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Justin Gatlin’s nephew posed an adorable challenge to Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt’s kids after training with his legendary uncle.

 

Gatlin, who won 12 world and five Olympic medals during his career, went up against Powell and Bolt on many occasions but now it appears that the baton has been passed down.

 

 

Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt were long time track rivals during their legendary track careers

Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt were long time track rivals during their legendary track

The trio are now enjoying retirement but that hasn’t stopped a new rivalry forming between their family members with Gatlin passing down his wealth of experience to his nephew.

 

In an Instagram video, the youngster can be seen crossing obstacles and lifting weights in their garden.

 

He is then heard saying: “Uncle Asafa and uncle Usain, I want to race your kids.”

 

 

Gatlin reacted brilliantly to his nephew’s proposition by captioning: “Uncle .”

 

It remains to be seen whether a race between the three kids is on the horizon but the idea of the three sprint kings in attendance would most certainly make it box office viewing.

 

 

Gatlin’s encounters with Powell and Bolt were the headline races of a generation. The American achieved a career best time of 9.74sec in the 100m.

 

He beat Powell in the 100m at both the 2012 Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix and 2015 Lausanne Diamond League.

 

Gatlin also got the better of Bolt in the 100m at the 2017 World Championships in what proved to be the final race of the Jamaican’s legendary career.

 

This, after Gatlin took advantage of an injury to Bolt to win gold at the 2004 Olympics.

 

Since retiring from athletics on his 40th birthday, Gatlin has regularly teamed up on podcasts with his former competitors to reminisce over their heydays.

 

 

In a recent episode of ‘The Fix’ podcast, Bolt told listeners that he considers Gatlin his ‘greatest rival’ due to the pair having competed against each other in most of their career races.

 

Bolt said: “For me, Justin, because I think we competed over a longer span, for a while. For a span, now, like five years. With everybody, it was like two years, one year. So, that was the thing.

 

“He is a master, so I give that off to Justin, and Justin Gatlin is a true competitor. He’s somebody that you have to respect when it comes to competing and working. And the sport needs to evolve, it has to.”

 

Meanwhile, on an episode of the ‘Ready Set Go’ podcast the pair categorically rebuffed the notion that the 2024 100m final in Paris was superior to the London 2012 final which saw Gatlin, Bolt and Powell go head-to-head.

 

 

“Do you guys really think the last 100m was the best one?,” Bolt asked Gatlin and former Bahamian sprinter Rodney Green. “I’m curious, do you really think so after what we performed in 2012?”

 

Green responded: “Asafa throws the average off because he’s injured. If he doesn’t finish he’s okay but because he finishes in such a slow time because of his injury, it throws the average of that race off.”

 

The sprint star is priming his nephew for a future in athletics

The sprint star is priming his nephew for a future in athleticsCredit: justin gatlin

Gatlin has been putting the work in with his nephew

Gatlin has been putting the work in with his nephewCredit: justin gatlin

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“The line up in that race was unheard of,” Gatlin responded. “When you look at any other sport and the greatest of those sports NBA, NFL – they’re in generations. [Michael] Jordan didn’t play with LeBron [James] and Kobe [Bryant] played some with LeBron.

 

“But the fact of our line up is we were all in the same generation and we lined up at the same time. You won’t ever replicate that race ever again in life. The top five men in history were in that race.”

 

Usain Bolt’s 100m world record inspired Justin Gatlin to end his NFL dream and return to athletics

 

 

 

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas hit out at a fan for a demeaning comment after she had attempted a popular dance style.

Three-time Olympic Champion Gabby Thomas has snapped back at a fan whose ‘white woman’ comment on her video didn’t go down well.

 

Thomas, 24, who won gold in Paris in 200m, is a popular social media figure with a large following. During her off season, the Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology holder posts about her life off the track.

 

PAY ATTENTION: Stay updated with the Latest Athletics News in Kenya from Pulse Sports.

 

The Georgia-born track queen shared a video on her TikTok platform, trying out a hip-hop dance movie, where a person moves the body from side to side accompanied with a hand movement.

 

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New Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy names provisional squad for World Cup qualifiers

Thomas, who was raised in Massachusetts, reshared the same video on X and attracted a comment by a fan who intentionally called the world champion ‘white woman’ but could not further elaborate.

 

“This is a white woman…I will not elaborate.” Thomas responded with “ew” reply to vent her displeasure. In an instant reply, the social media user then clarified that her comment was based on the dancing talent. “It’s just the dance moves.”

 

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Kenya dealt a blow in the construction of stadia earmarked for AFCON 2027

Infuriated further by the demeaning comment and in a way of trying to silence the X user, Thomas categorically stated. “nah, girl you got the wrong one. black people aren’t a monolith and this anti black rhetoric isn’t it. let black women by silly and have fan.”

 

Thomas had a perfect 2024 season going by her achievements. In June she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics by winning the U.S. Olympic Trials 200m race with a time of 21.81.

 

She won the 200 m at the final pre-Olympic Diamond League meeting in London, the following month, with a time of 21.82. At the Olympics, she won the gold medal in 21.83 in her preferred 200m race.

 

Along with her teammates, she also won gold medals in the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay.

 

On September 26, she competed at the Athlos track meet, a women-only track and field meeting at Icahn Stadium in New York City, finishing second in the 200m.

 

In November 2024, it was announced that Thomas had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track. With the track season set to begin in April, Thomas will hope to pick up from where she left last year.

 

Michael Johnson has opened up about how the fastest man alive, Usain Bolt, silenced him by breaking his record.

American sprint legend Michael Johnson has revealed the humbling moment Usain Bolt went on to prove him wrong on rack and field.

 

Johnson, whose track exploits saw him break the 200m world record after clocking 19.32 seconds in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, once said he expected Bolt to break his record.

 

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However, Johnson, who is a four-time Olympic champion, said prior to the 2008 Olympics that he didn’t expect the Jamaican to break his 200m record that had stood for 12 years at the Games.

 

‘If he got it right, you were in trouble!’ -Usain Bolt on why Asafa Powell was the only athlete who ever worried him

‘If he got it right, you were in trouble!’ -Usain Bolt on why Asafa Powell was the only athlete who ever worried him

Bolt, eager to announce his arrival at the grandest stage, defeated a stacked field as well as breaking Michael Johnson’s record by posting a time of 19.19 seconds in 200m.

 

Reminiscing about the incident, Johnson, an eight-time world champion, told talkSPORT. “He’s going to do it, he’s going to break the 200m world record there’s no doubt about it. It’s just not going to happen this year. I said anytime he’s on the track it’s possible, and then I said I didn’t think he would.”

 

 

Bolt was the overwhelming favorite for 200m following the absence of Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay. The 2005 World Champion Gatlin, who doubles up as the 2004 Olympic 100m champion, was serving a doping suspension while 2007 World Champion Tyson Gay had suffered a hamstring injury at the U.S. trials and did not make the team.

 

The event also saw two of the eight finalists from the 2004 Games return: gold medalist Shawn Crawford of the United States and sixth-place finisher Stéphane Buckland of Mauritius. Bolt had competed in 2004 but had struggled through injury and did not make the quarterfinals; in 2008, he was healthy and, by the time of the 200m, had already set a world record in the 100m in Beijing..

 

Bolt’s win in 2008 marked the beginning of the Jamaican dominance over both distances. He went on to win three consecutive titles in both categories before he opted to retire in 2017. Eight years since the 38-year-old retired, his records are still intact.

 

i Olympic Champion Noah Lyles and Australian teen sensation Gout Gout.

Gout Gout manager explains why the teen sensation’s training with Olympic champion Noah Lyles has led to improvement.

Gout Gout’s manager James Templeton has revealed that the Australian teen sensation has really improved after training with Noah Lyles in January.

 

Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and Gout Gout trained together for a two-week period in Florida at the National Training Centre.

 

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Templeton said even though progress is gradual, working in the US has made a big difference in Gout Gout ahead of this weekend’s Queensland Championships.

 

“Training was great in Florida and we’re confident he’s kicked on further. Gout is really looking forward to this weekend, as always he’s looking to run fast. Faster than before,” Templeton told The Guardian.

 

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5 Highest paid African players in Qatar: Where does Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga rank?

The national 200m record holder will line up in his primary event at both the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on 29 March as well as the national championships in Western Australia in the second week of April.

 

He ran 20.04s in December to beat Peter Norman’s mark that had stood for 56 years. In the 100m, despite having run a wind-assisted 10.04 in December, Gout will not race for the senior Australian 100m title in Perth, preferring instead to enter the under-20 category.

 

 

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The emergence of Gout Gout has electrified the Australian athletics calendar as it builds towards a once-in-a-generation showdown at the Stawell Gift next month.

 

The local teenager will start his finely-tuned, four-meet Australian programme this weekend in Brisbane as part of a schedule that balances experience-building under-20 races with high-profile open contests.

 

Gout Gout is expected to be among the favorites to win the 100m and 200m at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. The Usain Bolt-likened sprinter is on an upward trajectory and will be a nightmare to come up against going forward.

 

The 17-year-old has been in record-breaking form ahead of the 2025 outdoor season. As he prepares to make his season debut this weekend, Olympics.com looks at how the next steps in his career could push him to run even faster.

 

 

There are many similarities between a young Usain Bolt and the prodigious Aussie sprinter Gout Gout.

 

From their tall, lithe frames to their broad, infectious smiles, it’s easy to draw comparisons between the two from a physical viewpoint.

 

But the most obvious — and important — similarity is the speed with which they have run, with Gout breaking Bolt’s under-16 200m world record last year at the Australian All Schools Championships with a mark of 20.04 seconds.

 

At the same time the Jamaican legend has been hinting at a potential return to the athletics track he hasn’t graced since 2017, telling the Ready Set Go podcast, “I’m ready, just for the fun of it. I’m ready, let’s go. It’ll be fun”, Gout is preparing himself for the next phase in his fledgling career.

 

And if his manager’s words are anything to go by, we may be about to witness something even more special from the record-breaking teen, who turned 17 at the end of December.

 

“We’re confident he’s kicked on further,” Gout’s manager James Templeton told The Guardian. “Gout is really looking forward to this weekend, as always he’s looking to run fast. Faster than before.”

 

The event Templeton is referring to this coming weekend is the Queensland Championships, the first of four competitions in Australia that Gout will compete in over the coming month.

 

While he has already re-written the history books, these upcoming races represent the next step in the development of a young athlete who has captured the attention of the world.

 

Gout Gout’s rise to the most talked-about young sprinter on the planet

Although he’s still in the early stages of his career, it’s easy to see why Gout is being compared to the very best sprinters in history.

 

In mid-February, the Australian ventured into the heady realm of the 400m — a world far different to the 100m/200m sprint distances in which he is beginning to make his name.

 

However, as we are becoming accustomed to, Gout delivered, setting a time of 46.20 seconds that is almost a full second faster than Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles’ personal best.

 

It followed the Aussie’s record-breaking 20.04-second 200m run in December 2024, where he not only broke Bolt’s age group world record but also became the fastest-ever Oceanian athlete over the half-lap distance — of any age.

 

While he may be running in the junior categories at this weekend’s Queensland Championships (lining up in both the under-20 100m and 200m), the next weeks will see him take on the cream of Australia’s senior athletes.

 

Gout is scheduled to race in the senior 200m race at the Maurie Plant meet on 29 March as well as at the national championships in Perth in early April, giving him vital experience in a year that includes an outdoor world championships that he has already stated he is eager to compete in.

 

After witnessing many races in which Gout has finished metres ahead of his competition, the stiffer rivalries he will face in the open age-group format will represent a new test for the teenager — and possibly one that will push him to run even faster.

 

Gout Gout and the lessons to be learnt from past champions

Of course, while the comparisons with the world’s best sprinters are easy to make, it’s worth remembering that Gout’s career is still in its infancy.

 

Not every race will produce a personal best and there are many cautionary tales of young athletes who peaked or plateaued early, never reaching the heights their promise hinted at.

 

While Bolt was a prodigious teenager, it took much more than natural talent to produce the world record and gold medal-winning performances he enjoyed later in life.

 

“The hardest thing is to motivate yourself,” the eight-time Olympic gold medallist told the BBC in 2016, the year before his retirement, referencing the dedication it took to maintain the highest levels of performance.

 

“I talk to myself… especially when I’m in training and I don’t want to do it anymore, I say ‘If you wanna be a champion you gotta go, get up’. I say ‘You’re gonna lose. You don’t wanna lose. So let’s finish this’.”

 

Lyles, by comparison, was something of a late bloomer. His best under-18 200m time (20.71s) puts him only 33rd on an all-time list led by Erriyon Knighton, Gout and Bolt, while his fastest under-20 time (20.09s) only places him 10th on the all-time list.

 

For now, athletics fans enjoy Gout for what he is — an exciting young sprinter who has brought new attention to the athletics world through performances that seem well beyond his age.

 

And perhaps, as the athlete himself does, allow ourselves to dream a little about what’s to come.

 

As Gout told Athletics Australia, “These are adult times and me, just a kid – I’m running them. It’s going to be a great future for sure.”