Ryan Crouser (1992–)

Track and field star Ryan Crouser is the only man to win a gold medal in shot put in three consecutive Olympics, doing so in the 2016, 2020 (delayed), and 2024 Olympic games. In 2019, he began serving as a volunteer coach at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). In 2025, he won his third consecutive world championship gold.

Ryan Crouser was born on December 18, 1992, in Portland, Oregon, to Mitch and Lisa Crouser. His family includes a number of outstanding track and field athletes. His father was an alternate in the discus on the 1984 Olympic team, having finished fourth in the trials, and his uncle, Brian Crouser, who was a two-time Olympian in the javelin throw, representing the United States in the 1988 and 1992 Games.

Crouser grew up in Boring, Oregon, and first competed in track and field as a fifth-grader. He first garnered national attention while he was still in high school at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon. He set numerous age group records in both the shot put and the discus throw. He also won the gold medal in the shot put, as well as the silver in the discus, at the 2009 World Youth Championships.

By the time he graduated from Barlow High School in 2011 and entered the University of Texas (UT) in Austin that fall, he was focusing primarily on the shot put. He continued his development into a world-class performer during his time at UT, a period in which he twice won NCAA titles in the outdoor shot put, as well as two titles in the indoor championships. He received a BA in economics from UT in 2015 and earned a master’s in finance at UT in 2016 while preparing for the Olympics.

The six-foot, seven-inch Crouser capped his 2016 season with his first Olympic gold medal, setting an Olympic record in the process, while also becoming the first American to win the gold in the shot put since 2004. Those accomplishments helped propel him to the top of the world rankings, the first of five number-one rankings he achieved in the period from 2016 to 2023. His gold medal in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic games (held in summer 2021) was different from the 2016 effort if only because of the COVID-19 restrictions, but Crouser was again dominant, beating his own Olympic record.

Crouser’s record-breaking third consecutive Olympic gold medal in summer 2024 in the shot put was hard won, as he had suffered a major injury at the World Indoor Championships in March. At that meet, he suffered a nerve entrapment (loss of mobility) in his right elbow—the throwing elbow. Soon afterward, he tore a pectoral muscle while bench pressing. Surgery was required, and after undergoing two procedures on his elbow, he had to take time off and was not cleared to throw until late May. The first efforts were not encouraging.

But as he had in 2023, when despite two blood clots in his leg, he won the world title, Crouser persevered. He beat his long-time rival, two-time Olympic silver medalist Joe Kovacs, at the U.S. trials before winning his record-breaking third consecutive gold medal in Paris, the winning throw coming on his third attempt in the final round.

In September 2025, Crouser won his third consecutive world championship in the men’s shot put at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, joining Switzerland’s Werner Günthör as the second man to win three straight shot put titles. He won gold with a throw of 22.34 meters (73 feet, 3.5 inches). He had previously won gold in 2022 and 2023, as well as silvers in 2019 and 2022.

In December 2019, Crouser moved from the United States Olympic Training Center in San Diego to the University of Arkansas, where he began serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the men’s track and field team, while training in Fayetteville. It is not an unusual arrangement for world-class track and field performers, as it allows them to utilize the school’s facilities. Crouser said that teaching the younger athletes enhanced his understanding of the events and improved his own performance. He also said it “helps [him] stay more passionate for the sport,” while providing some perspective, as he remembers being in “their shoes once” and now seeing how far he has come.

For additional information:
Brief, Sam. “The Gold Medal Ryan Crouser Didn’t Think Was Possible.” NBCOlympics.com, August 4, 2024. https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/ryan-crouser-olympic-gold-injuries (accessed October 17, 2025).

Brinkley, Rhett. “Razorback Assistant Ryan Crouser Wins Third Consecutive Gold Medal in Shot Put.” Arkansas Times, August 5, 2024. https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2024/08/05/razorback-assistant-ryan-crouser-wins-third-consecutive-gold-medal-in-shot-put (accessed October 17, 2025).

Pells, Eddie, and Stephen Wade. “Crouser Beats Injury, Wins World Shot Put Title.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 14, 2025, p. 3C.

“Ryan Crouser.” Arkansas Razorbacks. https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/coache/ryan-crouser/ (accessed October 17, 2025).

“Ryan Crouser.” Track and Field, Team USA. https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/ryan-crouser-871878 (accessed October 17, 2025).

Zaccardi, Nick, “Ryan Crouser, Best Shot Putter in History, Does More Coaching than Being Coached.” NBC Sports, March 22, 2024. https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/ryan-crouser-shot-put-olympics (accessed October 17, 2025).

William H. Pruden III
Raleigh, North Carolina