April 21 (Reuters) - Usain Bolt said Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout must surround himself with a strong support team in order to stay focused on his career and avoid the distractions that will come with track and field success.
Gout has earned comparisons with the Jamaican sprinting great and the 18-year-old is already being talked about in Australia as a potential gold medallist when Brisbane hosts the Olympics in 2032.
He clocked 19.67 seconds to win the 200 metres title at the Australian Athletics Championships this month and followed it up with a victory in the under-20 100m event where he finished in 10.21 seconds.
Bolt holds the world record in the 200m (19.19) and the 100m (9.58).
"At that young age, because I was there, you start getting put left and right and then you forget track and field," eight-times Olympic gold medallist Bolt told CNN.
"Hopefully he has the right set of people to guide him and keep him focused on track and field because the rest of the stuff will always be there.
"But if you mess up on track and field, then it all goes away."
Gout, the son of South Sudanese immigrants, is set to make his Diamond League debut in the 200m in Oslo on June 10, lining up in a strong field led by reigning Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
