Fred Kerley told Gout Gout he “can’t handle the pressure” and suggested the Australian would be “destroyed” if he races at the drug-fuelled Enhanced Games, while also praising him as “the future” of sprinting.
Fred Kerley’s challenge to Gout Gout didn’t come with polite applause. It came with a blunt verdict and a dare.
The former world champion sprinter said the Queenslander “can’t handle the pressure” and warned that if Gout Gout lines up at the Enhanced Games, he’ll be “destroyed” when competing against “the world’s best” runners.
Kerley—an Olympic medallist who has medalled in the 100m at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics—will race drug-free at the event in America. He then urged the Aussie to do the same, using the kind of direct language that turns a track rivalry into something louder.
“I have seen him [Gout]. He’s the next up. He’s the future of the sport and with the next generation,” Kerley said.
“Anybody can compete [at the Enhanced Games]. If you [Gout] want to come, come. You’ll still get destroyed.
“He’s a kid. There would be so much in his head. I don’t think he can handle the pressure.”
Kerley’s comments cut two ways. Alongside the pressure jibe, he called Gout a “nice, fantastic athlete” and tied his praise to what he’s seen from the sprinter’s form in recent weeks.
Last month, Gout ran 19.67 seconds in the 200m final at the Australian Championships in Sydney. That time gave him the under-20 world record and smashed his previous personal best of 20.02 seconds.
For the Enhanced Games, the stakes are bigger than a sprint. The multi-sport event encourages competitors to take performance-enhancing drugs like steroids as they compete across a range of sports. and it has no drug testing. It was founded by an Australian, and it has been built with a public message of medically supervised enhancements.
Kerley’s stance makes the contrast sharper. The American star is running drug-free at the event, and he pressed Gout to join him in that choice.
While Gout currently has no plans to race in the Enhanced Games, the event is still drawing attention from prominent Australian names. Another big Aussie set to compete on Monday, Australian time, is James Magnussen.
Magnussen—a two-time Olympian and dual 100m freestyle world champion—retired from swimming in 2018, until the Enhanced Games arrived.
He is set to swim the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle in Vegas, with $US250,000 ($A358,000) prizemoney for race winners. There is also a $US1million ($A1.4million) bonus for breaking the 100m freestyle world record.
That bonus is mirrored by the event’s track sprint challenge too: it is also on offer to anyone breaking the 100m sprint world record at the inaugural Games.
The Enhanced Games’ push for enhancements is tied to a business pitch. The Melbourne-born entrepreneur Aron D’ Souza has left the company that became The Enhanced Group, and on May 8 the company officially launched on the New York Stock Exchange with a reported $1.2billion enterprise valuation.
D’ Souza framed his role in early-stage terms and insisted he sees himself less as an organizer and more as the thinker behind a movement.
“I am kind of a zero-one kind of guy. I like being in early variations of the business, that is when it’s exciting,” D’ Souza said.
“In the end, I am not an event organiser. I am a philosopher.”
“And I feel very happy about where not just the business, but the movement, is.”
In D’ Souza’s vision. the Enhanced Games is the vehicle to build “super humanity – humans 2.0” and to stop a stigma around using medically supervised enhancements in society—while also making “a lot of money.” He has pointed to performance-enhancing drugs being taken by Magnussen and other athletes being marketed and sold by The Enhanced Group.
Kerley’s dare to Gout Gout now sits inside that same storm of controversy. Praise for the “future” of sprinting, followed by a warning that the pressure might be too much. For Gout. the question is no longer only how fast he can run—it’s whether he wants to step into a spotlight where the rules of sport. and the beliefs behind them. are being fought in public before anyone even toe-lines up.
Fred Kerley Gout Gout Enhanced Games World Championships 2022 Australian Championships Sydney 200m under-20 world record James Magnussen Vegas drug testing performance-enhancing drugs Aron D'Souza The Enhanced Group