American Sprinter Erin Brown Falsely Claims Gout Gout's Record 200m Run Was Fake
American sprinter Erin Brown has made sensational and entirely false claims that Gout Gout's stunning 200m world record victory, clocked at 19.67 seconds, was 'fake' because it was allegedly recorded with an illegal tailwind. Brown lashed out at the widespread acclaim for the time Gout set in Sydney on Sunday, using two separate social media videos to incorrectly insist that the achievement should not have been officially recognised.
Social Media Outburst Over Legal Tailwind
Brown posted an Instagram Story featuring a clip of wind blowing at Sydney Olympic Park, where the 18-year-old Australian athlete set the remarkable time at the Australian Athletics Championships. The caption read '+1.7 wind... mind you trees and shii falling over', implying the conditions were far more severe than recorded. In reality, there was a strong but perfectly legal tailwind of 1.7 metres per second when the race was conducted, within the allowable limit of two metres per second set by World Athletics.
The American sprinter, who has previously blasted Gout for competing against what he termed 'white nobodies and bums', then expanded on his complaint in a detailed TikTok video. Brown told his followers, 'I thought we really witnessed something special ... a million people done text me, man, Gout Gout just ran 19.6.' He continued, 'That made me inclined to go check the results. Not gonna lie, and if you say this s**t is hating, your ass is coping, because you and you wanna be different. This s**t is clearly fake. Obviously, overtly, this is as fake as it comes.'
Brown's Flawed Argument Based on Performance Patterns
Brown then set out his argument, using the strong times run by Gout and other competitors in the 200m final in an attempt to prove his point that the wind provided excessive assistance to the entire field. He stated, 'So Gout Gout, who ran 20.4 in his last race, shows up, run 19.6. Aidan Murphy in second. A guy whose PR is 20.4, shows up and runs 19.8. Calab Law, a guy who's ran 20.7 this year, shows up and runs 20.2.'
He further claimed, 'So if you just see the pattern off the top three, it's seeming like everybody is running pretty much half a second faster than they've ever ran. And if you skip all the way to the bottom with just Archer [McHugh], 20.3, and this is a guy who broke 21 seconds for the first time like two weeks ago, 20.8, then he shows up and runs a half second faster. So everybody in a race runs a half second faster than they've ever ran. But the race is real and the time is real.' Brown concluded by asserting, 'Australia keeps producing some of the fakest marks that we ever see, and y'all gas that s**t up every time, and then these people go get they ass stepped on.'
Gout Gout's Record-Breaking Achievement Stands Firm
For a run to be legally ratified, the tailwind cannot exceed two metres per second, according to the strict rules established by World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Gout's stellar run not only set an under-20s world record but also eclipsed the best time Usain Bolt achieved in the event when he was an 18-year-old, a fact that underscores the significance of the performance.
This is not the first time Brown has launched a verbal attack on the Queenslander. In a previous incident, Brown blasted Gout after he finished fourth in his semi-final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year. Brown remarked, 'The next Usain Bolt got brutally destroyed at the world championships. Gout Gout, the 17-year-old from Australia who turns 18 in about two months, went out there and got embarrassed.' He added, 'You are a professional athlete now... you running (against) those little white kids in Australia running 22 seconds (over 200m). It's easy to run fast against nobody. Your body is relaxed, it's easy to maintain your posture and your form because you're not under pressure. He's never been in a race where it's been close and he's had people in front of him. He only races bums.'
Brown's Own Athletic Record and Current Standing
According to his official World Athletics profile, Brown's personal best for the 200m is a 20.55 that he set in May 2024. He is currently ranked 3612 in the world, and his best effort in the 200m this year is a 20.84 he achieved at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in New Mexico in February. Meanwhile, Gout has made the strategic decision to pull out of the Commonwealth Games to focus entirely on the 200m at the world under-20 championships scheduled for August, aiming to build on his record-breaking form.
