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)…
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