In ancient Greece, athletes consumed dried figs, moist cheese, and wheat. Today, the greatest shot putter in history, an American, fuels his extraordinary strength with burritos and pizzas, measuring his achievements in calories as well as metres.
Ryan Crouser stands out as the only shot putter to win Olympic gold three times, having claimed victory in Paris following his successes in Rio and Tokyo. Despite recent injury hurdles, he managed an impressive throw of 22.90m at a rain-soaked Stade de France on Saturday.
While many athletes face the challenge of adhering to a calorie-controlled diet amidst cravings, Crouser, who stands at 6ft 7in (201cm) and weighs around 320lbs (145kg), experiences the opposite predicament. “I don’t even like food anymore,” the 31-year-old confessed to The New York Times in 2019. “Each meal I have is half of what a typical person consumes in a day, and I eat that five times. If I ever feel hungry during the day, it means I’m not doing my job. So, I’m constantly eating. Sometimes before my next meal, I’ll just stare at it for a moment, like, ‘This again.’”
Crouser revealed to CNBC that he spends $1,000 monthly on food to sustain a daily intake of 5,000 calories (the average recommended for a man his age is approximately 2,500). Mornings typically feature his two breakfast burritos made with nine eggs, sausage or bacon, cheese, sour cream, and salsa wrapped in flour tortillas. A customary lunch might include 12 ounces of rice paired with a pound of lean ground beef smothered in barbecue sauce, and he often orders “a family of three’s dinner,” which could be a large meat pizza complemented by a pint of milk, rounded off with “another snack before bedtime.” He once gained five pounds after a single meal of rice, chicken, mac and cheese, and dessert.
“I’m constantly striving to keep my body weight up. Growing up, I was the taller, skinnier kid, and gaining weight has always been a challenge for me,” Crouser mentioned in a 2021 interview with GQ. “Food has become part of my training. I stick to a strict schedule to ensure I never feel hungry.” During the offseason, he targets 6,000 calories per day, as he engages in higher repetitions and burns more calories while aiming to build muscle. “I try never to go more than three hours without eating. I’m always consuming something.”
At international competitions, he compensates for smaller meal sizes by gulping down protein shakes or adding extra meals to his routine. “I did shed a bit of weight in Rio. Most countries usually offer fewer calories compared to typical American cuisine,” he noted to GQ.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Crouser grew up in nearby Boring and comes from a lineage of remarkable throwers. His father, Mitch, was an alternate for the US discus team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics; his uncle, Brian, participated in the javelin events at the 1988 and 1992 Games; another uncle, Dean, excelled as a college shot put and discus champion, and his cousin, Sam, competed in the javelin at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Crouser developed a keen interest in throwing mechanics and meticulously studied the techniques of Ulf Timmermann, the East German glide technique expert who secured gold in Seoul in 1988.
Crouser pursued studies in economics and finance at the University of Texas, dedicating himself to full-time training after earning his master’s degree in 2016. He received an invitation to try out for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts in 2016 but opted to remain committed to shot put, also clinching gold medals at the world championships in both 2022 and 2023.
Having set both indoor and outdoor world records since 2021, Crouser broke a long-standing outdoor record previously held by American Randy Barnes. He elevated his outdoor record to 23.56m in 2023, continuing a legacy where American men have historically excelled.
Crouser’s teammate and friend, Joe Kovacs, who secured silver in Paris for the third consecutive Olympics, is 6ft tall and weighs around 300lbs. He begins his day with a dozen eggs for breakfast.
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Several other Olympians share similarly extreme dietary habits that would more likely send average individuals to a gastroenterologist than earn them a spot on the podium. Swimmers illustrate that champions often experience unquenchable appetites. Former American Olympic champion Ryan Lochte admitted to indulging in pizza and chicken wings every Friday, stating his rigorous training allowed for a daily intake of up to 8,000 calories, which led to jaw pain from constant chewing.
The most decorated Olympian to date, Michael Phelps, reportedly consumed up to 10,000 calories daily and remarked to NBC that he ate “pretty much whatever I felt like.” This included an impressive breakfast order from his favourite spot in Baltimore: “I’d start with three sandwiches filled with fried eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and mayonnaise; add one omelette, a bowl of grits, and three slices of French toast sprinkled with powdered sugar; all washed down with three chocolate chip pancakes.”
During the Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt expressed concerns about the local food, declaring in his autobiography, The Fastest Man Alive, that he won gold in the 100m and 200m while subsisting on a diet of a hundred chicken McNuggets daily. “After trying a local Chinese meal that differed from what we eat in the West and didn’t agree with my body, I decided to rely solely on nuggets. So, I committed to eating them exclusively for every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, washed down with bottled water,” he recounted.
