IT WAS RYAN CROUSER’S CALL: TO BUDAPEST OR NOT. WAS IT THE RIGHT ONE ?

Elliott Denman has written for my publications since 1990. He is a 1956 Olympian in the Race Walk, the 50k race walk, mind you.

Now, at the charming age of 86, I believe Elliott is missing his very first World Championships, as he had attended from 1983-2022. 

Elliott is covering the Budapest Champs from lovely New Jersey; this is his first column. 

I just saw Elliott at the NYC Grand Prix, and it was great to see one of my favorite writers. Elliott’s style is much like an ee cummings poem, and he still uses AOL (some of you have no idea what that was or is). 

Elliott writes this column out of concern and awe for Ryan Crouser and, having survived enough health issues of his own, some experience. 

IT WAS RYAN CROUSER’S CALL:
TO BUDAPEST OR NOT.
WAS IT THE RIGHT ONE?

The first thing I did Saturday on seeing Ryan Crouser bombing one out to 23.51 meters – convertible, you imperial-system, damn-the-rest-of-the-world, resist-change-at-all-costs deep thinkers, to 77 feet, one and three-quarter inches – and winning his second World Championships gold medal in the shot put, to go along with his two Olympic golds – was jump for considerable joy, straight out of my TV-side living room chair.

It was one hell of a pressure performance. The Budapest fans loved it; TV-glued fans did some joy-jumping of their own and further solidified the 30-year-old’s status as the greatest 16-pound cannonball launcher in the history of humanity.

Yes, the Human Howitzer, out of Boring, Oregon; Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, the University of Texas, and 320-pound son of one of the most accomplished families ever to grace the all-time start list of the “Flagship Sport of the Olympic Games, had come through once again.

This sixth-round toss was the second-best in track history – just five centimeters back of his own world record and gave him 10 of the 11 best tosses on the all-time charts.

So there was glory in it for all – Team USA, Team Crouser, Team Nike, Team Oregon, Team Texas – and enthusiasts of this man’s competitive calling who are quite likely these days to be found In all precincts on this planet.

That’s what a massive mark in his sport’s biggest competitive event – this side of the Olympic Games, anyway – is supposed to do. Get folks fired up, get them to dream this event’s next barriers ready to be broken – 24…