At the Paris Olympics, Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs won their third consecutive gold and silver Olympic medals, respectively.
In typical Ryan Crouser fashion, he started with show with a giant throw. His first round effort of 22.64m would have been good enough to take the gold right from the start. He continued through the series advancing to better and better marks until his third round throw of 22.90 meters, which would be the gold medal distance. He would foul the fourth and fifth throws before declining his sixth attempt, already knowing he had secured his third consecutive Olympic gold medal.
Joe Kovacs, however, had a different route to his third consecutive Olympic silver medal. Following a solid opening round throw of 21.69 meters, Kovacs found himself outside of the podium as the competition continued and he would only better his mark by two centimeters in the third round.
It was around this time in the competition that the rain in the Stade de France (the Olympic Stadium) began to come down, wetting the throwing circle making for slick conditions.
After fouling on both his fourth and fifth attempts, Kovacs wound up and unleashed an absolutely monster 22.15m for his clutch sixth throw, his final one of the meet, which would catapult him into second place. This placed Kovacs ahead of Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell and fellow countryman Payton Otterdahl, who would end the competition in third and fourth place, respectively.
