For the third consecutive Olympics, the Americans finished 1-2 in Paris, but they took different paths to get to their familiar spots on the medal podium.
By Adam Kilgore, The Washington PostRyan Crouser and Joe Kovacs share a moment after finishing a third straight Olympics in the same position.
When Crouser emerged, he dropped to a knee and rested his chin on his right fist in the manner Rodin’s “The Thinker” - ““Little shout-out to a French sculptor,” Crouser said. “That’s my all-time favorite. I like to think of myself as a thinker.” “It was a bit of a blessing to come in feeling just happy to be there,” Crouser said. “There were a number of times where I didn’t even know if I’d make the Olympic team. Would I be at a level to throw at the Olympic final?”
All of that placed Kovacs in a horrible position. He had struggled on his opening throws, adrenaline causing him to lift up and out of his spin too soon. He sat in fourth place when his sixth and final throw arrived. But he had not trained in his backyard back in Dublin, Ohio, during breaks when his kids napped so he could play it safe. He had not come to the Olympics to let someone else take his medal.Kovacs made one concession that doubled as a mechanical fix. He slowed down his spin a touch. He threw more with guts than mechanics. When the shot left his hand, Kovacs somehow knew it would be good and launched into immediate, profane celebration. “NBC bleeped some things out there,” Kovacs said.
“There’s maybe a little bit of craziness to keep on coming back,” Kovacs said. “It’s a lot easier to just say it was a good run.”
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