Ryan Crouser: 'I'm trying to be the best today that I've ever been' - Exclusive
To say the Crouser family is a competitive one is an understatement.
As Ryan Crouser, the world record holder in shot put, chases a third consecutive gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, competition runs high at home - board games included.
"My family is extremely competitive," he tells Olympics.com in a recent exclusive interview. "No matter what it is - pick-up basketball in the front yard or touch football… even Monopoly is ridiculous."
"Nobody wants to lose," he adds. "And so if there's a chance to compete, there's going to be a competition."
And this is a bunch that knows how to win. His uncle, Brian Crouser, is a two-time Olympian in javelin, while his father, Mitch, and another uncle, Dean, were standout collegiate throwers.
Ryan made his Olympic debut alongside his cousin, Sam, who competed at Rio 2016 in javelin. (Another cousin, Haley, made the Olympic Trials in 2012.)
Whatever they play at home, “it’s at an extremely high level,” Ryan says. “I can’t say any game at home is a cakewalk.”
Ryan Crouser: 'I'm at a special point as world record holder'
Crouser broke the outdoor shot put world record for the first time in 2021, an over 30-year-old mark that had been held by Randy Barnes since 1990. He did so at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials with a heave of 23.37m, which he would better in 2023, his 23.56m throw coming at the Los Angeles Grand Prix - the same event he's set to kick off his Olympic season at next month (17 & 18 May).
"That feeling of being the best you've ever been when you set a [personal best] is so special; that's what pushes me," Crouser said. "I'm at a special point now where when you are the world record holder, if you throw a PR, it's a new world record. So that is a special feeling."
He added: "But, beyond the records, beyond the accolades and titles, it's mostly about me trying to be as good as I can be."
Crouser, who grew up in a town of less than 8,000 people called Boring, Oregon, was first drawn to athletics because it's a sport where "it's so easy to measure your performance," the 31-year-old said.
It's something that hasn't faded for the American in his some 20 years of throwing, even post-world record throws.
"I push myself because I want to be better," he said simply. "That's what motivated me when I was younger... and what continues to do so is, is trying to throw a PR, trying to be the best today that I've ever been. It's bittersweet, because as I get older and those records get farther out there, PRs are harder and harder to come by."
His 'training partner' Koda, yoga and fishing
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 are set to feel vastly different for everyone from the pandemic-era Tokyo 2020 in 2021, but Crouser says that is particularly important to shot putters - and namely him.
"The crowd is huge" for us in shot put, he said. "It's a high energy event."
"So the more that the crowd brings in terms of noise and atmosphere... the more intense the crowd, the farther we throw," Crouser added. "Shot put is one of those event events where the crowd can actually see their feedback: We get the clap going, get the crowd engaged and the crowd can see that they cheer loud, see that ball go far. And they share in that moment. So we give and take so much with the crowd."
Crouser said it's something people still say to him today: "I didn't know how much the crowd goes back-and-forth with shot put."
While he is high-octane in the ring, there is a complete opposite side to Crouser: That one that lives in the hills of Arkansas, likes to go bass fishing, does yoga with his girlfriend (former pole vaulter Megan Clark) and has a training partner named Koda - his black Lab.
Clark has actually moved into a PT type of role for Crouser - while she attends medical school.
"I've definitely taken some of her training and implemented it into my own," Crouser confirmed. "She's big into yoga and flexibility and mobility. And so at this stage in my career, mobility is key. So I'm doing yoga with her."
An evening playing fetch with Koda is the perfect kind of wind down, or a weekend afternoon out on the water, fishing.
For a man who is eager to set more records and earn more medals, it's taught him how to exhale.
"If I can give you one tip, if you're new to bass fishing, it's slow down," he told us, smiling. "I see all these guys going out, and they're fishing too fast. They're trying to cover the whole lake at once. So slow down. Pick your points, be precise and be patient."
Or maybe that's something shot put taught him.