International attention is being paid to an often overlooked Olympic event because of the unique effect it had on one of its star athletes.
US Olympian Ryan Crouser, who recently won his third straight gold medal in the shot put at the Paris Games, surprised fans when they noticed the difference between his right and left hands.
The 31-year-old showed off his hands in fists next to each other in a recent interview, clearly showing that his right fist was significantly larger than his left.
This is a side effect of throwing the sixteen-pound ball with his right hand at nearly forty miles per hour for eighteen years.
Mr. Crouser told interviewers that his right hand had taken a “beating” over the years, leaving it larger, stronger and less flexible than his left hand.
Mr. Crouser is a formidable force in the shot put world, having won one gold medal in each of the three Olympic Games he has competed in.
This extreme, repetitive motion strengthens the muscles in his hand, fingers, forearms and wrists.
But it also causes swelling and reduces flexibility, all of which causes the right hand to become thicker than the left.
Shot put is a track and field sport in which athletes have to throw a thick metal ball as far as possible from the starting point, using only one hand.
They are not allowed to drop the ball lower than their shoulder, so they push the ball up from their neck with a pushing motion.
The balls, which are made of sand, iron steel or brass, weigh 16 pounds for men and 8.8 pounds for women.
Because the movements you make in this event are so specialized, most shot putters, like Mr. Crouser, choose to throw with one arm and train only that arm.
This repeated throwing with only one arm can create the asymmetrical appearance you see in Mr. Crouser, as the muscles enlarge and the forearm swells.
“My hand is definitely swollen, but that’s mainly from years of throwing. I’ve been throwing for 18 years now. So my right hand is always bigger than my left,” the Olympian said in a video on his YouTube channel.
He showed the world this difference in an interview with TODAY after winning gold.
In it, he extended both hands and showed how little flexibility there was in the right hand – because its muscles were built in such a way that they limited its range of motion. Even when he pressed hard on his fingertips, his hand would not move beyond a 90-degree angle.
The other side effects of the sport are a little more obvious – according to 2023 research from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, shot put athletes develop stronger chest, abdominal and arm muscles than the average person.
In this final competition, Mr. Crouser won gold by launching the ball from his spot in the arena over 75 feet (22.9 meters).
The Oregonian currently holds the world record for the furthest shot put, throwing the ball 75 feet (23.56 meters) from his starting point.
He competed in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo and hopes to participate in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.