Ryan Crouser, the 2016 Olympic shot-put champion, expected to defend his gold medal in Tokyo this summer. He did not expect to enter bass-fishing tournaments to stoke competitive fires doused by a coronavirus pandemic. “Finished in the money three of the last four tournaments,” Crouser, 27, who lives in Fayetteville, Ark., said in a telephone interview. It’s helped me from going a little crazy.”Track and field, like many other Olympic sports, lost its primary showcase with the postponement of this year’s Tokyo Games. But for many athletes, that wasn’t the worst of it.

Source: International New York Times August 30, 2020 06:56 UTC