AMERICANS FINISH ONE-TWO
RYAN CROUSER LEADS US ONE-TWO IN BATTLE OF THE BIG SHOTS
JH
SHOT PUT
RYAN CROUSER is your perfect example of an athlete who has put their studies first. During his masters degree in finance at the University of Texas, he trained for the shot put only three times per week. “For me, school has always been the main priority,” he says.
Yet with such huge talent lurking within his stocky frame, it was inevitable that it would emerge at some stage. The 23-year-old comes from a family of top throwers and showed his ability winning the world youth title for under-18s in 2009.
Ryan Crouser: set Olympic record of 22.52m
His father, Mitch Crouser, was a 67.22m discus thrower in the 1980s, while his uncle Brian was an Olympic javelin thrower in 1988 and 1992 and uncle Dean was an NCAA champion in shot and discus in the 1980s. In addition to this, one of his cousins, Sam, was in Rio as a javelin thrower for the United States, while another, Haley, was fourth in the world youth javelin in 2011.