Ryan Crouser (born December 18, 1992) is an American shot putter and discus thrower. Crouser won the gold medal in the shot put at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He had previously won the gold medal in the boys' shot put at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was a two-time NCAA champion in the shot both indoors and outdoors for the University of Texas.
Crouser was born in Boring, Oregon on December 18, 1992. He belongs to a family of throwers; his father Mitch Crouser was an alternate on the 1984 Olympic discus team, his uncle Brian Crouser qualified for two Olympic teams in the javelin, his other uncle Dean Crouser was a good shot putter and discus thrower, and his cousins Sam and Haley are both javelin throwers. He took up track and field in fifth grade, but was initially not as good as his cousin Sam; he made his breakthrough in eighth and ninth grade.
In 2009, his sophomore year at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon, Crouser set a national sophomore record with the 3.58 lb (1.62 kg) high school discus, throwing 202 ft 6 in (61.72 m); the mark was also the Oregon high school state record until Sam Crouser broke it the following year. Crouser won both the 5 kg shot and the 1.5 kg discus at the 2009 national youth championships, and was selected for the IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy in both events. In Bressanone he took gold in the shot put, breaking the championship record with a 21.56 m (70 ft 9 in) put in the fifth round; in the discus he won silver.