Nathan Crumpton

He was born in Kenya, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Foreign Service, and he has a Kenyan birth certificate. His mother's family has a Chinese and Polynesian background, and growing up, he spent most of his childhood in Africa before moving to Australia and then to Virginia, where he graduated from high school. Now, most of his family lives in Hawaii. When he was younger, Crumpton was a track-and-field athlete first and foremost. He competed in the triple jump and long jump at Princeton where he was a four-year NCAA Division I track and field athlete, and an All-Ivy League selection in triple jump, and as the third-farthest triple jumper in Princeton history.[2] He worked as a sports photographer for The Daily Princetonian and remains a keen photographer.[3]

In 2014, he raced in his first Skeleton World Cup event, and he finished the 2016-17 season in 11th place overall, a career-best. His best World Cup race was a fifth-place finish in 2016, and he won the first gold medal in a winter sport for American Samoa at the North America's Cup in 2019; both races were in Park City. At the IBSF World Championships 2016, he led all American sliders and finished ranked eighth in the world. However, he herniated a disc in his back prevented him from competing further at the World Cup and, ultimately, the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[4][5]

He competed for American Samoa in the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in the 100m race.[6] He ran a time of 11.27 seconds, which was the second fastest time by an American Samoan athlete at the Summer Olympic Games.[7] He was selected as the closing ceremony flag bearer for American Samoa.