Ryan Crouser sets another record

TOKYO - Breaking his own Olympic record, Ryan Crouser brought home gold in shot put with a booming toss 23.30 meters (76 feet, 5½ inches). Crouser broke the world record earlier this year at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon - yet another one of his own records he broke within the year - and this throw only fell 0.07 meters short of that.

While he never trailed in his competition, never throwing shorter than 22.54 meters throughout the day, his farthest record-breaking throw of the day came on his sixth attempt of the evening (Ryan had broken the OR in throws #1 (22.83m), throws #2 (22.93m), and throws #6 (23.30m).

Crouser dedicated his win to his late grandfather, Larry Crouser, who passed away just days before the Tokyo Games began. He shared that the first time he ever tried shot put was in his grandfather's backyard when he was a child.

During his celebration Crouser unfolded a piece of printer paper that he had written on before he even entered the stadium, it read:

"Grandpa, we did it, 2020 Olympic champion!"

The thrower must have gone into the day with a winning feeling but that wasn't what he was talking about following the win.

"He always told me to stop and enjoy the moment," Crouser said of his grandfather. "His thing that he always told me was to stop and smell the roses."

With his first-place finish, Crouser is now a two-time Olympic champion as he earned first at the Rio Olympics in 2016 as well. Fellow American teammate, Joe Kovacs, repeated for second place in the games adding another silver to his medal collection; he also placed second at the 2017 World Championships as well as winning golds in 2015 and 2019.

The bronze medal winner, Tom Walsh of New Zealand, finished in third behind Crouser and Kovacs in 2016 as well - an exact repeat of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes.

Read the published version here.