Ryan Crouser

Ryan Crouser (born December 18, 1992) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus. He specializes in the shot put, in which he is the only three-time Olympic gold medalist, having won in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Paris, and also a three-time outdoor World Champion. He holds the world record in the shot put, both indoors and outdoors. He set the outdoor world record at 23.56 meters in May 2023, improving upon his previous record of 23.37 m from July 2021. He has held the indoor record of 22.82 m since January 2021.

In his early career, Crouser set a national high school record for the indoor shot put and outdoor discus, and he won gold in the shot put at the 2009 World Youth Championships. At the University of Texas at Austin, he won four NCAA titles in the shot put. He won the national title in the shot put at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships seven of the eight times the event was held between 2016 and 2024. He is also a four-time national champion in the indoor shot put at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, with victories in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2024.

Crouser won his first Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with a throw of 22.52 m and retained his title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, setting an Olympic record of 23.30 m. He also won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a throw of 22.90 m. At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, he secured a silver medal. Crouser then went on to win gold at both the 2022 World Championships in Eugene and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. His throw of 23.51 m in Budapest set a record for the farthest throw ever at a World Championships.

Crouser has been named Track & Field News World Male Athlete of the Year. He was also awarded USA Track & Field's highest accolade, the Jesse Owens Award, and was twice a finalist for Male Track and Field World Athlete of the Year by World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field. Crouser holds the distinction of earning victories in a Diamond League Championship, Olympic Games, World Indoor Championship, World Outdoor Championship, and World Youth Championship.

Crouser was born on December 18, 1992 in Portland, Oregon, and raised in the neighboring rural area of Boring. He comes from a family with a background in throwing events. His father, Mitch Crouser, was an alternate on the 1984 Olympic discus team. His uncle, Brian Crouser, competed in two Olympics in the javelin, while his other uncle, Dean Crouser, excelled in shot put and discus. His cousins, Sam and Haley Crouser, are also javelin throwers. He started participating in track and field in the fifth grade and was competing at a high level when he reached high school.

In 2009, his sophomore year at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon, Crouser set a national sophomore record with the 1.62 kg (3.58 lb) discus, throwing 61.72 m. This mark was also the Oregon high school state record until Sam Crouser broke it the following year. Crouser won both the 5 kg shot put and the 1.5 kg discus at the 2009 National Youth Championships. This performance qualified him to represent the United States in both events at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy. There, he won gold in shot put with a championship record throw of 21.56 m and silver in discus.

In his senior year in 2011, Crouser broke the national high school indoor record in the 5.44 kg (12 lb) shot put with a throw of 23.54 m. This performance marked a rebound from Crouser's junior year, when he was hampered by a foot injury. As a senior, Crouser also broke the national high school record in the discus by throwing 72.40 m to break Mason Finley's record from 2009. After graduating from Barlow High School in 2011, Crouser enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, rather than keep with his family's tradition of attending the University of Oregon.

Crouser competed for the University of Texas at Austin from 2012 to 2016, where he won four NCAA titles in the shot put. As a freshman, he dealt with a torn ligament in his throwing hand and illness, leading him to redshirt the 2013 indoor season. His first title came as a sophomore at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he threw 21.09 m. Crouser, who had been successful academically, began to struggle with the heavy workload during his second year and opted to switch his major from engineering to economics.