Ryan Crouser of United States wins gold medal in shot put at Paris Olympics

Ryan Crouser of the United States just continues to dominate. The former Texas star won his third straight gold medal in shot put on Saturday with a distance of 22.90 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Crouser edged out fellow American Joe Kovacs for the gold medal. Kovacs earned the silver, while Rajindra Campbell of Jamaica captured the bronze.

Ryan Crouser previously won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He also won world championships in 2022 and 2023.

Before becoming an Olympic champion, Crouser was a four-time NCAA shot put champion during his time with the Longhorns. He signed with Texas ahead of the 2011 season and finished in the top-5 in both shot put and discus as the NCAA championship that year.

Ryan Crouser then won his first NCAA championship in 2012-13 by winning in shot put during the outdoor season.

He continued to win championships throughout the rest of his career and is now dominating in the Olympics, too.

While Crouser attended Texas, he is originally from Oregon. The 31-year-old holds the world record in the shot put with a distance of 23.56 meters. The rain in Paris on Saturday likely contributed to him being unable to contend with his previous world record.

Kevin Durant explains mindset as he closes in on Lisa Leslie’s Team USA scoring record

Speaking of former Texas athletes doing big things at the Olympics, Team USA defeated Puerto Rico 104-83 in the final round of pool play on Saturday, improving to 3-0 during their stay at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Kevin Durant scored 11 points in 19 minutes off the bench, further adding to his strong start following his return from injury. He was the second-leading scorer in the game — and leaves Saturday’s win just five points shy (483) of breaking the all-time Team USA scoring record, which is currently held by WNBA legend Lisa Leslie at 488.

“It feels good to accomplish stuff like that with this group of guys,” Durant said on the court postgame. “It’s a fun group of guys and I like being in our locker room with them. It’s cool to do that type of stuff but we’re just trying to get that gold. … We always play together, we play off of each other. We’ve got two different units that play different ways — but we’re all still on the same page. It’s been a fun first three games and we’re looking forward to the medal rounds now.”