American Samoa flag bearer Nathan Crumpton braved the cold weather in Beijing on Friday by marching shirtless, dressed in his country’s traditional attire, at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. By a temperature of -6 degrees Celsius on Friday evening in the Chinese capital, the Samoan is the only standard bearer to have paraded without a top, the oiled chest, in the middle of the rest of the athletes warmly covered in their down jackets and other parkas.
Already his country’s flag bearer in Tokyo last year in traditional attire, but for the closing ceremony, this 100m runner discovered skeleton while watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on television. 36 years old will compete from Thursday in this event where the competitor runs down a track lying on a sledge with his head forward.
It imitates the Tongan Pita Taufatofa
With this parade in traditional dress, Nathan Crumpton imitates the Tongan Pita Taufatofa who had paraded the oiled torso dressed in a loincloth as the flag bearer of his country during the last three editions of the Olympic Games (2016 in Rio, 2018 in Pyeonchang and last year in Tokyo).
Absent from the 2022 Olympics, the Tongan remained in the country to help the victims of the volcanic eruption and the tsunami which affected his country last month. He still supported Nathan Crumpton by tweeting a photo of the Samoan during the opening ceremony with this caption: “American Samoa defend the fort”.