Who is the "Bare-Chested" standard-bearer? He has Chinese ancestry and has participated in the 100 meters of the Tokyo Olympics

At the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Nathan Crumdon, an athlete from American Samoa, was eye-catching enough.

In the appearance of the delegations, the male steel frame snowmobile athlete braved the cold, exposed his muscular muscles bare-chested, and quickly attracted everyone's attention.

It is worth mentioning that Nathan just participated in the Tokyo Olympics a few months ago, and he still has Chinese ancestry.

At the Tokyo Olympics, he ran the men's 100 meters. Born in Kenya to a family of Chinese and Polynesian ancestry, Nathan spent much of his childhood in Africa as a child, then traveled to Australia, the United States, and finished high school in the United States.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Nathan competed in the men's 100m, hitting the line in 11.27 seconds, but was only the last place in the group and missed the next round.

But even so, 11.27 seconds is already the second fastest result for American and American Samoa athletes at the Summer Olympics, and Nathan was chosen as the standard-bearer for the closing ceremony of American Samoa.

Nathan Cruptown is a steel-frame snowmobile. After completing the Tokyo Olympics, he threw himself into preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – as early as 2014, Nathan competed in his first steel-frame bobsleigh race, finished fifth in the World Cup in 2016, and won his first winter sports gold medal for American Samoa at the 2019 North American Cup.

"I'm looking forward to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the biggest problem is that I've lost a lot of weight from sprinting, and I need to get those weights back and use them back in the steel-framed bobsleigh race."

Nathan bluntly says that the two sports require different body types, athletics has changed his body shape, and he needs to get back to what it feels like to be on a steel-framed snowmobile as soon as possible – it sounds a bit tough, but knowing Nathan's life, you'll know that this man has always liked to meet different challenges.

Nathan Crumpton competes in the Tokyo Olympics. Nathan first recognized the steel-framed bobsleigh project by watching the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and he was hooked at the time, "Seeing it on TV, I think it's the coolest sport I've ever seen in my life." ”

Nathan then spent several years studying the steel frame snowmobile project, and achieved good results - originally he appeared in the Olympic arena in 2018, he was ready to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, but the injury with the protruding disc around his waist made Nathan miss the opportunity.

"There was a time when I couldn't face reality, I tried everything I could to qualify and in the end it couldn't be done, it was heartbreaking and I had to run away from myself for a while."

After three years of lows, Nathan finally returned to the Olympic arena, but his Olympic debut was not a steel-framed snowmobile but a 100-meter race. At that time, the reason why he represented American Samoa in the Olympic 100 meters was mainly due to Nathan's belief that the Olympic qualification for this project was easier to obtain.

Coming to Beijing from Tokyo, he was more excited than ever, "Both sports rely on rapidly contracting muscles, require a lot of speed and strength exercise, and I think there may be a 50% overlap in between, but there are still a lot of different technical jobs to face between upright sprints and stoop sprints." ”

In American Samoa, no one else is competing with Nathan for a place in the Beijing Winter Olympics, but he still needs to meet olympic criteria, such as being in the world's top 60.

Nathan is currently tied for 25th place in the world, and he may not be able to stand on the podium in the steel frame bobsleigh race, but his desire for the Olympic arena is moving, as he himself put it:

"I'm 36 years old, I'm at the end of my career, I'm past the peak of my sport, but I'm still able to play two Olympics in about seven months, which is very tough and very cool."

(The Paper)