Tokyo (AFP)
The American Ryan Crouser became Olympic champion in the shot put for the second time in a row Thursday in Tokyo with the second best throw in history (23.30 m) seven centimeters from his world record.
The podium is exactly the same as five years ago in Rio, with American Joe Kovacs, 2nd (22.65m) and New Zealander Tomas Walsh, 3rd (22.47m).
The same three pitchers also occupied the podium at the Doha Worlds in 2019, except that Kovacs had then edged Crouser and Walsh by one centimeter after a memorable competition.
Since then, Ryan Crouser (28) has established his dominance in the discipline and has not lost, with a series of 23 wins in progress.
He became the world record holder in June, beating with 23.37 m the benchmark of his compatriot Randy Barnes (23.12 m), 31 years old.
Crouser almost did it again on the 6th try, propelling the weight to 23.30 m, the Olympic title already in his pocket.
Olympic shot put champion ryan Crouser of the United States on August 5, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Games Andrej ISAKOVIC AFP
He is the 4th man to win two Olympic golds in the discipline after his compatriots Ralph Rose (1904 and 1908) and Parry O'Brien (1952 and 1956) and the Pole Tomasz Majewski (2008 and 2012).
Thursday, in a suffocating heat, he crushed the competition from the first throw with 22.83 m.
He dedicated his victory to his grandfather with a paper message shown on camera: "Grandpa, we did it, Olympic champion 2020".
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