As sprint sensations Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy race towards sporting immortality, one of Australia’s greatest Olympians believes the merger of two athletic bodies will pave the way for an even more prolific era.
Few have reached the heights of hurdler Sally Pearson, who clinched gold in the women’s 100 metres at the London 2012 Games.
While Australia has waited until the Gout and Kennedy rivalry to truly believe a maiden men’s gold medal beckoned, Pearson says the imminent union of Little Athletics and Athletics Australia will usher in a larger wave of podium contenders.
As the Australian Little Athletics Championships takes place in Brisbane this week, the bodies will prepare to complete a merger as one entity on April 20 – aligning the high-performance pathways from junior to senior ranks.
Pearson was adamant the move would revolutionise the financial support for a greater contingent to press their claims in the lead-up to Brisbane 2032.
“I think having that combined funding and support from the entities is really going to help create a path and journey for those athletes into the senior ranks,” Pearson said.
“We always want more money. There’s only so much to go around, but what these two entities are doing is one huge step closer to helping those athletes find their way financially.
“These guys are our next champions – our next Gout Gout and Lachie Kennedy.”
At the weekend’s national championships, Gout became the first Australian to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m sprint, his 19.67 seconds run the fastest by any man in the world younger than 20. He was joined in the feat by Aidan Murphy (19.88).
Kennedy broke the 10-second barrier in the 100m twice.
More than 17,200 participants have joined Little Athletics throughout the country.
The challenge now rested in getting those prospects to that stage, a mission that had given Pearson a new purpose since her retirement through her role as an ambassador to Little Athletics naming-rights partner Coles.
“I’ve had some amazing opportunities and experiences, but I guess something that’s been difficult is leaving my sport. It was a big part of my life, and whether you like it or not, it was part of my identity,” Pearson said.
“People will always know me as the gold medallist, which is awesome, but you’ve got to try to write a different chapter in life and show the world you can do other things.
“To give back to my sport is honestly the best thing.”
Social media has provided athletes with a platform to receive endorsement deals, highlighted by Gout’s multimillion-dollar deal with Adidas.
Pearson earned her first sponsorship with the same brand at 17. Before that, her mum worked two jobs to support her dreams.
“I came from a poor family, which made it a lot harder to fund a lot of my trips. There were always uniforms involved with the trip as well – flights, accommodation – so they were all big expenses for us,” Pearson said.
“But we don’t tend to use the word ‘sacrifice’ in our family – it’s a choice we made. We knew it’d be hard, but we did what we could to make ends meet and get to competitions.
“It was definitely a trying time for us, but we made it work.”
While the federal government has committed $489 million for high-performance sport across the first two years of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics cycle, including $19.6 million paid to more than 950 athletes in 2024-25, many Australian athletes live below the poverty line to meet the financial demands to train, travel and compete.
In February, beach volleyball gold medallist Nat Cook said if Australia was to capitalise on the economic benefits Brisbane 2032 would bring, the athletes needed to share in that windfall.
Cook – who works with athletes to support their fundraising efforts while connecting them with prospective sponsors – feared too many athletes would otherwise be lost.
“One of the values in the Brisbane 2032 organising committee is to make the Games worth it for all stakeholders, and my question is, is it worth it for the athletes?” Cook said.
“The rising tide should raise all ships, and currently it’s widely reported there’s an $8 billion-$18 billion benefit coming to Brisbane.
“If we want the economic value of a Games, we need to have the economic value spread to the athletes.”
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