Patrick James Ryan (20 January 1883 – 13 February 1964) was an Irish American hammer thrower.

[2] Born in County Limerick, Ireland, Ryan won his first Irish hammer title in 1902, beating the great Tom Kiely.

With the exception of 1918 when he was in Europe with the American Armed Forces he won the AAU title every year from then up to and including 1921, when he retired.

The following year, however, at the curiously named Eccentric Fireman’s Games he established the first official IAAF world record for the event with a throw of 57.77 m (189 ft 6 in).

In 1920, Ryan got his chance at the Olympics and won the title, beating Carl Johan Lind of Sweden by over 4.4 m (14 ft).