by Stuart WeirRyan Crouser is one of the true superstars of global athletics.
Now holding the world records both indoors and outdoors in the Men’s shot put, Ryan Crouser makes a difficult series of actions look almost easy.
The truth is, Ryan Crouser is a genius at the Men’s shot put.
And this is the story of how Stuart Weir met Ryan Crouser and they discussed the shot put.
Ryan Crouser wins in Lausanne, photo by Diamond League AG
Ryan Crouser
Ryan Crouser has competed 13 times in 2021 and as Americans like to put it, his streak is 13-0. Thirteen competitions, 13 wins, Olympic gold medal, and a world record. You could say that he is dominating the shot!
When Larry asked him to describe what he does to someone who had never seen it, he came up with the analogy of finding the heaviest ten-pin bowling ball, standing on the free-throw line, and using one hand, shooting a basket!
Ryan Crouser, photo by Herculis Monaco
I had never spoken to him but when he was competing in Lausanne, it was too good a chance to miss, all the more so when he was wearing a cowboy hat all evening – OK he may have taken it off to throw.
We began our conversation with his assessment of Lausanne 2021: “I was very happy with it. I feel that I executed very well technically. Today came pretty quickly off a travel day all the way from Prefontaine to Lausanne and I feel that I handled that pretty well. So very pleased with my performance tonight”.
Ryan Crouser, photo by Herculis Monaco
I was keen to discover how he felt, he was able to be so consistent: “I have really found my rhythm and technique. In the past, I struggled a bit with being tight but now I’ve just found a technique that works for me. There have been very few tall shot putters who threw with rotation so I didn’t really have a model to copy. But I came up with a technique that’s kind of my own and which works well for me”.
Ryan Crouser, photo by Herculis Monaco
Finally, I couldn’t let the moment pass without finding out why he wore the cowboy hat: “I went to the University of Texas”, he told me, “and I grew up wearing cowboy hats. I have a picture of me as a boy with a hat sitting over my eyes because it was way too big for me. So I’ve always liked wearing it [a cowboy hat] and it gives people a way to recognize me”.
A great athlete and quite a character.
