AFTER PARIS, three Olympic golds now shine in Ryan Crouser’s imposing medal collection. And, yes, it’s true, also a share of a fourth.
Three days after Crouser’s third Games shot triumph, Roje Stona’s Olympic Record discus win came, as our report phrased it, “flying out of left field.” Social media quips soon followed that this meant Ryan Crouser was Jamaica’s most successful coach at Paris 2024.
What?! Arkansas tracksters surely knew there was truth in it, as Stona scored two NCAA runner-up placings (’23 DT & ’24 indoor shot) for the Fayetteville-based school — and Crouser lives and trains in Fayetteville. Wired-in members of the throws community at large knew it. For most of us, it was news of that same out-of-left-field variety, even if we happened to notice Crouser among those on hand in video of Mykolas Alekna’s DT World Record afternoon last spring in Ramona, Oklahoma.
Who had thrown his way to 2nd behind the Lithuanian prodigy on that blustery April day? Well, Stona, in fact. His 226-6 (69.05) effort on the plains of Oklahoma was a PR at the time and as this is written remains the second-longest of the 25-year-old’s career, shorter only than his 229-8 (70.00) Paris winner.
On Wednesday, at the press conference preceding the Zürich DL, Crouser fielded questions about his platter coaching from emcee Colin Jackson. When, former 110H WR-holder Jackson, asked did the preeminent putter of our time find time to coach discus throwing?
“It makes for a busy schedule,” Crouser replied. “The one nice thing is that Roje does lift with me at my house. So that saves on some time in that we lift in the barn in the backyard.
“But there was also a lot of complaining ’cause there’s no AC and no heat. So in the winter when it was below zero Celsius in the barn, that was a lot of complaining from a Jamaican. He did not like that.
“But no, he’s been an excellent kid to work with and he’s progressed so much in the last two years. So it’s been awesome to see.
“And, yeah, it was much more stressful ’cause I’ve never coached at a major like the Olympics. So way more stressful being a coach than it is being an athlete, for me at least.”
Crouser, of course, specialized in the DT in younger days. He set the still-standing prep-implement HSR (237-6/72.40) as a Barlow (Gresham, Oregon) senior in ’11 — same season he was T&FN’s HS Boys Athlete Of The Year. Now 31, Crouser threw discus and shot throughout his time at Texas and dabbled with it in ’16, the season of his first Olympic shot gold.
He’s not picked up a platter in competition since. Surely, Jackson suggested, if he can coach the Olympic discus gold medalist, he could potentially win DT gold himself. Why has he not thrown it in major championships?
“It’s been a while since I’ve been doing the double,” Crouser replied. “Unfortunately, the way that I throw the shot and the disc, they’re similar, but my worst habits in the shot are my best habits in the discus and vice versa. It was always if one was going well, the other one was going poorly.
“So it would be interesting to return to it after focusing on shot for so long — if in my brain I could have them diverge technically. And so there’s a part of me that wants to throw the discus. I often now in my 30s look at Roje and the other discus throwers and think, ‘Wow, that would be nice on the body to throw discus ’cause it is easier on the body than the shot put is.’
“So there’s a little bit of desire there, but I still feel like I have unfinished business in the shot. I would like to put that World Record out there farther. I still think it’s possible. So maybe if I catch that perfect or near-perfect throw, then we can reevaluate.”
Might that not spoil his coach-athlete relationship with Stona?
Crouser thinks not. “It would be, I think, good to have a training partner that’s the Olympic champion in the event,” he said. “The ongoing joke with Roje is I never let him win in anything in training. So nothing in the weight room, no med ball throws and no jumping. He can never win in anything.
“It’s like we compete in something almost every day. I think he has like two wins on the year. So it’s a good indicator if I did go to discus.”
Stona, one guesses, would welcome the challenge.
