Shirtless American Samoa Flagbearer At Olympics Is Princeton Alum

PRINCETON, NJ — The opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has a new shirtless hero! Continuing in Tongan Olympian Pita Taufatofua’s footsteps was Nathan Crumpton, a 36-year-old bobsleigh and skeleton athlete, who walked into the ceremony on Friday, representing American Samoa. Crumpton braved the cold and marched through the stadium shirtless, covered in coconut oil.

And here’s the interesting bit about the Olympian – he is a Princeton University alum. Born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, Crumpton graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 2008.

At Princeton, he participated in track and field, short sprints, long jump, triple jump and graduated as an All-Ivy League selection in triple jump “as the third-farthest triple jumper in Princeton history,” according to his profile.

Crumpton is also an avid photographer who worked for The Daily Princetonian and covered mostly sporting events at the University.

He ran the 100-meter sprint at the Tokyo games six months ago. Crumpton took up skeleton in 2011 after watching the 2010 Olympics.

He is the first person to compete for American Samoa at the Summer and Winter Olympics.

"I'm honored to have qualified for the Winter Olympics and to represent American Samoa, as well as a region of the world that does not often participate in the Winter Games," Crumpton told Inside The Games.

"This has been a long journey, over a decade in the making, with many setbacks, financial constraints, and injuries along the way."

Crumpton calls Park City, Utah his home and is an “avid skier, snowboarder, mountain biker and longboarder.” He is of Polynesian heritage, who grew up “in six countries on four continents.”

After spending eight years with Team USA, he joined the American Samoan bobsled and skeleton team for the 2019-2020 season.

When not competing in sporting events, Crumpton is busy modeling. He was in a McDonald’s commercial for the Sochi Olympics in 2014, playing a snowboarder.

And when he failed to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics, due to an injury, he wrote a book!

You can find the full skeleton streaming schedule here, and for the bobsled schedule click here.

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