Ryan Crouser explains why his Gold Medal meant so much after the loss of his grandfather
Team USA shot putter Ryan Crouser spoke with the media after winning Gold in the men’s shot put event and explained just how much it meant to him to bring home another Gold after losing his grandfather to cancer.
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RYAN CROUSER: To win the gold, once again, honored to bring it back to the US. We've had such a rich, shotput history, so excited that we bring a gold and a silver back to the USA. I think a lot of people don't realize-- they see these huge performances on an international stage and it's easy to slip your mind that you're thousands of miles away from home, eating food that's new to you, walking everywhere in Olympic Village. It's a change for Americans, at least, and sleeping in different beds. I feel like I handled the pressure well, but there's definitely changes. And I think today's performance was in spite of adversity. I think my 23.30 in the sixth round was definitely the best throw of my life, given the situation that it was a lot easier to throw 23.37 close to home at Hayward Field, and so I'm proud of the performance today.
For those that don't know, I kind of come from a family or track and field. My dad and both of my uncles, so my grandpa's three sons all were D1 athletes. He really appreciated the throws. He was a javelin thrower himself before he served in the army in Korea. And so he had a deep passion for the throws, and yeah, he had a long, long fight with cancer and a lot of health issues. But the one thing he was always there for was he was always in a good mood and always supportive. You never saw him that he was down or sad or anything. He was always just so happy to see all of the grandkids and all the success that we've been able to have all the way up to, not just me, my cousin Sam was my roommate in 2016 and so I've just been so lucky to spend a lot of time with him.
I think the first time I ever touched a shotput was in his backyard, and whenever I was having bad practices growing up, I would go back to his backyard where I first learned how to throw and I feel like I would kind of get my mojo back. And so when I outgrew that, he would come down and to the high school and watch me throw. And so he was always-- he'd always be out there smoking a cigarette at shot practice. And so yeah, he was always a huge supporter. I miss him, my family misses him, but I felt like he was out there with me tonight.
