American shot putter Ryan Crouser is hoping to make Olympic history in Paris. He won gold in Rio and Tokyo, and if he can reach the top of the podium again this weekend, he will become the first man to win three Olympic gold medals in the shot put.
He’ll be cheered on by his girlfriend, Megan Clark, who has helped him with his training. “I’ve definitely taken some of her training and implemented it into mine,” Crouser said. “She’s a big fan of yoga, flexibility and mobility. So at this point in my career, mobility is key. So I do yoga with her.”
Clark is a former professional pole vaulter and currently a medical student. Here’s everything you need to know about Ryan Crouser’s girlfriend, Megan:
She grew up in a military family.
Megan Clark, daughter of Brigadier General Ronald and Simona Clark, was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, but moved around a lot during her childhood. She has one brother, Matthew.
“I got into vaulting because I grew up in a military family,” she explained in 2021. “We moved around a lot—I went to 10 different schools—so to make sure we had friends, the rule at home was that we had to do a sport every season. I did gymnastics, cheerleading, soccer (before it got serious), and then I started running. When I got into track, I tried every event. With my gymnastics background, pole vaulting was a pretty natural direction to go. But I actually started pole vaulting because the coach had ice cream and I thought I’d be good at running long distances. Which I didn’t; I was always running long hurdles, 100 hurdles, the 4×400, and the 4×100.” I fell in love with pole vaulting and that’s where I’ve been ever since.”
Clark went to see Duke.
Clark was a student-athlete at Duke, where she received numerous accolades, including ACC Women’s Field Performer of the Year in 2015 and breaking Duke records for the indoor and outdoor pole vault in 2015. In 2016, she was honored by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
“We never settle for average when it comes to our training, and Megan is a great example of that,” said assistant coach Alex Merrill. “Every day, she brings a positive attitude, a great focus and the effort to maximize her workouts. She is extremely coachable, which allows me to constantly challenge her to reach her full potential. It is a privilege every day to work with an athlete and person like Megan Clark.”
She was a professional pole vaulter.
After graduating from college, Clark became a professional pole vaulter, competing with the New York Athletic Club and Oiselle. She retired from the sport after the Olympic trials in 2021. “Thank you for everything. I will always love this sport, but now I have to do it from the stands,” she wrote in a farewell message.
She and Crouser have been together for a long time.
Crouser appears on Clark’s Instagram as early as October 2018:
Clark is an ambassador for diversity in her sport.
As a professional pole vaulter, she has made no secret of what it means to be a Black woman in the sport. “There are not a lot of people of color in pole vaulting. In fact, here in the United States, I can count the pros of color on one hand,” she said. “You can see it at every level of the sport. We need to do a better job of exposing kids to the opportunities that could be available to them. One of the best potential feeder systems, at least for girls, is gymnastics… We can take all these phenomenal athletes who are transitioning from gymnastics and show them that they have the opportunity to go into pole vaulting. We also need to find a way to make it more accessible at the high school level. At the end of the day, representation matters and I hope the number of Black pole vaulters only increases. I hope that when I travel and kids see me vaulting, they realize that they can do it too.”
She is a medical student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
During her junior year, she was selected for a summer fellowship in emergency medicine for underrepresented minorities in medicine at New York University at Bellevue, one of five students selected. Dr. Linda Worley, associate dean for Northwest Arkansas, wrote in her letter of support: “Megan is courageous, intelligent, driven, compassionate, selfless and inspiring. She lights up a room with her refreshing spirit of cooperation and optimism.”
Clark began her fourth and final year this summer; she will graduate in 2025.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the editor of Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, royals and a range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was deputy editor of Hey Alma, a site devoted to Jewish culture. Follow her at @emburack Twitter and Instagram.
