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- American shot-putter Ryan Crouser won gold with a throw of 23.3 meters in Tokyo.
- Crouser likened shot-putt to throwing a 16-lb bowling ball nearly the length of a basketball court.
- Crouser and all shot-putters are athletic specimens with a rare combination of power and grace.
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American shot-putter Ryan Crouser makes throwing a 16-lb ball look far too easy.
Crouser won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, setting a new Olympic record three times in the final, his longest throw coming in at 23.3 meters. He also owns the world record in shot put.
In June of 2021, after setting the world record at the US Olympic trials with a throw of 23.37 meters, Crouser put into simpler terms just how difficult the shot put is.
"Go to the bowling alley and pick up a bowling ball, a 16lb ball, and then go to the basketball court and stand on the free-throw line and turn around and make a three-quarter court shot with that bowling ball," Crouser said, according to Athletics Weekly.
"If you did that, then you wouldn't break the world record, but you would've been close to medalling at Doha [in the 2019 world championships]. That puts it into perspective what we're doing. We're big guys, everyone is over 300lb, we're strong, we move well, and we're generating a ton of force. It's an intense event, it's easy to follow, and you can see where the world record is and what we're trying to get."
In 2019, Wired broke down Crouser's skills, noting that at 6-foot-7, 315 lb, Crouser can bench press 225 lb 50 times, squat 700 lb, all while running a 4.8-second 40-meter dash. It's a unique combination of power and athleticism rarely found in any sport.
The Ringer's Rodger Sherman made a similar point during the men's final on Thursday, noting that shot-putters have to generate all of their power within the small throwing circle, forcing these large athletes to have balletic footwork.
-Rodger Sherman (@rodger) August 5, 2021
The 2019 Wired profile noted that 24 meters is nearly an impossible distance to put the shot because it requires even faster release velocity and launch angle. Crouser, however, may be approaching it.
"He just keeps doing what he was already good at, better," American shot-putter Payton Otterdahl, who finished 10th, said. "He's just technically so good, he's gotten so much bigger and stronger, become more comfortable in the ring. Sky's the limit with that guy."