Follow our Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.
EUGENE, Ore. — Ryan Crouser is the best shot-putter in the world. Back-to-back Olympic gold medals, back-to-back world championships and both the indoor and outdoor world record prove it.
And yet, Saturday, simply securing a trip to the Olympics, was a significant feat. It required a strength not connected to muscles.
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Crouser’s on his way to France with hopes of a third consecutive gold medal, which would make him the first-ever in the sport to three-peat. He maxed out at 22.84 meters on his fourth attempt, provoking an ovation from the crowd at Hayward Field. It capped a difficult four-month process that proved a spiritual war with doubt, the mortality of his career.
He was a virtual lock to qualify for Paris, an expectation created by his own greatness. But injuries, especially to his right elbow, planted a question in his mind. It sprouted into concern.
He is an expert at projecting. But he revealed that, for this latest accomplishment, it was a real challenge to cast off the growing incertitude.
“I mean, you’re dealing with a lot of self-doubt,” he explained Friday after surviving the first round. “Elbow stuff for a shot-putter, it can be really difficult. I would try and throw, wouldn’t be able to, and then I’d have to spend a week rehabbing to try and throw again. … At the back of your mind, it’s like, ‘Man, at 31, am I ever going to get past this?’”
He did. He found a way, as champions do.
He threw well enough at the shot put final on Saturday — his first meet in 16 weeks — to earn six more weeks of training to round into top form. Crouser will be joined in the Summer Games by old friends. Joe Kovacs, back-to-back Olympic silver medalist in the men’s shot put, landed a spot in Paris with a 22.46-meter throw on his first attempt. Payton Otterdahl took third place with his fifth attempt. His throw of 22.26 meters snatched the final spot from Jordan Geist.
"Just so happy to be here."
Ryan Crouser (@RCrouserThrows) talks qualifying for his THIRD Olympics with his family watching on! pic.twitter.com/zBx9al9GKR
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 23, 2024
Crouser injured the ulnar nerve in his throwing elbow at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow on March 1. A month later, it was healing but still giving him some problems. Then on April 11, he tore a pectoral muscle while bench-pressing.
Shut down a month by the pec injury, Crouser decided to treat his elbow simultaneously. He had a procedure known as ultrasound-guided nerve hydrodissection.
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“As the ulnar (nerve) travels through the elbow,” he said, “(we’re) just trying to get space so it can move. So that has helped a lot. But yeah, I don’t recommend that to anyone. Super uncomfortable.”
Crouser was close to throwing in the Prefontaine Classic last month. He conceded to better judgment and pulled out. From his couch, he watched Kovacs throw a world-leading distance of 23.13 meters at Hayward Field.
“It’s frustrating,” Crouser said, “just knowing that, like, I’ve thrown 23 multiple times.”
While Crouser’s world record is 23.56 meters, at one point during his recovery, he couldn’t throw 19 meters. His injuries reduced him to limitations he hadn’t known since his teenage years.
After a feeble shot by his standards, on this frustrating road to recovery, he’d go pick it up and peer at how far away 23 meters seemed. Those four-plus meters between his reality and his best felt like a gulf too wide. That’s when thoughts of the end of his career would creep in.
As much as he wanted to get back to launching record distances, he couldn’t help but think of his uncle. Brian Crouser, a javelin thrower who made the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, had multiple elbow surgeries. He’s 61 years old now and doesn’t have the full mobility of his arm.
“He can’t get past 45 degrees,” the nephew said. “So I kind of have first-hand experience seeing where I don’t want to end up.”
The solution was humility, patience and a change in technique.
First, he had to accept his status, then let the process take its course. When he couldn’t throw, he worked on his conditioning with sprints and plyometrics. When he could throw, the goal was to not get discouraged by his temporary impotence.
It allowed him to work on his approach. Crouser embodies the elite American shot-putter with his explosion at the end of his throw, unleashing his power at the front of the shot-put circle. Unable to execute his big finish, at the risk of aggravation, he worked on the early part of his technique. It helped him get distance while unable to execute his big finish.
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“So, trying to emulate some of the Europeans,” Crouser explained. “(Italy’s) Zane Weir’s a prime example — a smaller guy that’s more efficient in generating more out of the back (of the shot-put circle). … So hopefully, in the long run, it will be productive because if I can combine my classic big-hammer finish with a more efficient kind of technique out of the back, hopefully that’s more distance.”
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(Top photo of Ryan Crouser celebrating Saturday after clinching a spot on the U.S. Olympic team: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)