Born in North Africa, growing up in 6 countries, there are 3 ethnic origins, 7 months to participate in 2 Olympic Games, this handsome man, a few days ago became a "network red", on the hot search.

He is the American Samoa athlete who marched into the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics with bare arms and bare arms, and the only athlete from that country, Nathan Crumpton.

At -5°C, he was the only one dressed like this, as if he were attending not the Winter Olympics, but the Summer Olympics.

The whole body is covered with oil and shiny, and the entrance shot of dozens of seconds makes the people watching live around the world quickly remember him and know that he is a steel snowmobile athlete from a tropical country.

But what Fei Chun wants to tell you today is that he is not just an athlete, but also a photographer, a model, a novelist, a broadcaster, a different kind of athlete who is good at self-marketing.

Even in sports, he was a miracle: he made his name in the long jump, went to the Olympics in track and field, and then went to the Winter Olympics in snowmobile a few months later!

Who is he? Who is he?

If you just look at -5°C to wipe oil, red arm, show muscles, it is a pity. There is something intangible about him that deserves our reflection.

Now, Fei Chun read the biography to tell you.

First, life

The United States is so far away from China that although both are in the Northern Hemisphere, they are almost on either side of the earth, separated by the vast Pacific Ocean.

During World War II, when the U.S. military came to "liberate" Japan, it had to rely on many small islands like Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, as well as coastal countries such as Australia and the Philippines, to ensure their military supplies.

American Samoa is one such island.

On the map, it is too small to even be named, only a number next to it, and a name in the annotation.

In 1929, it became a vassal of the United States, but did not become a state. Here, it's run by Americans and local chiefs.

It is small and sparsely populated, with only 197 square kilometers and a population of 60,000, less than the number of people in a township or a university in China.

However, due to its proximity to the equator, the people here are naturally different physiologically:

Their bones proliferated faster than Europeans, they were athletic, and their muscles were well developed.

It is said that the best people in the world are not Mongolians or Russians, but Samoans.

Fighting, wrestling, they are first in the world, even their women will teach children: men fight, not by pulling the trigger, but by fists.

Nathan Cropton, that's the country player. But surprisingly, he was not born in this country.

Nathan was born on the other side of the world in 1985 in Kenya, Africa, where he spent five years of his childhood in Nairobi.

His father was a member of the US Foreign Service, but what that background was, is not revealed in Nathan's personal autobiography.

Nathan also said that his mother is of Chinese and Polynesian descent, and that he is of Chinese, Polynesian and European descent.

Due to his father's work, Nathan began to live in different countries after the age of five.

First to Geneva, Switzerland, then to Harare, Zimbabwe, then to Canberra, Australia, Virginia, USA, and finally to Hawaii.

The country where he trained and represented was American Samoa.

In his 20s, he has traveled to three continents and lived in six countries, which is one of his unique and legendary experiences.

Two, cross-border

Nathan says he doesn't have a traditional "home." If you really want to search, perhaps, Kenya in East Africa, can be considered its original home.

Kenya is a country where the equator runs through the middle.

This is a special country at high altitude, where people are born with sports genes that are ahead of humans.

All the teenagers here are good at running, and they all have a dream of changing their fate by running.

Kenyans have long dominated the world of track and field.

Nathan spent his childhood in such an environment. The hobby and dream of sports have infiltrated the bones and genes.

He grew up in Australia and immigrated to Virginia while in high school.

Here he showed great athletic talent. The triple jump was his best at Langley High School in Virginia, where he finished third in the school's history.

In 2004, at the age of 19, Nathan was admitted to the Ivy League Princeton University.

In four years of college life, he not only completed a bachelor's degree in sociology, but also achieved an important breakthrough in sports, and was selected as an NCAA1 (American College Sports League I) track and field athlete.

At the same time, he has made great achievements in other areas:

For example, at the sports arena, he met a National Geographic photographer, which led him to become a photographer.

In his junior year, he joined the staff of the Daily Princetonian, and later as a photographer, signed with several galleries.

In the field of photography, he met a photographer who specialized in shooting models, and because of his mixed-race advantage, he was found by talent scouts and became an agent model for several agencies.

His athletic muscles, hybrid nature, handsome appearance, and youthful energy make him quite competitive in the modeling world.

Also, during sporting events, he had the honor of being an announcer for international radio and television.

...

Such cross-border development, see a line of love, really make other ordinary professional athletes can not match, amazed.

Even in professional sports, he transitioned from long jumps and sprints to steel skis.

After graduating from college in 2008, he entered the U.S. national team with the advantage of snowboarding, and since then, he has played for the United States for eight years as a professional athlete.

Iii. Inspiration

If you want to achieve great results in national and international competitions, talent and hobbies are not enough. You must train hard for a long time.

Nathan participated in several such competitions, but unfortunately, he did not win the championship.

In 2017, he split from the United States to join the American Samoa team, which won the country's first winter Games gold medal two years later.

During that time, he was injured in training with a herniated back and missed the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

In a fit of anger, he went to a Greek island, stayed quiet for a while, and wrote a 500-page book there.

In December 2021, after representing American Samoa at the Tokyo Summer Olympics (running), his book was published as Alpha State: A Nonfiction Novel.

This time to Beijing to participate in the Winter Olympics, he did not forget to use the opportunity to promote. In his VLOG, he made no bones about his marketing, enthusiastically introducing it to Chinese fans:

"I have prepared for you, the Beijing Winter Olympics will get my signed book!"

In his video, he also shows off his sleigh: Underneath it, there's a line of names, another part of his social media marketing:

He opened an online fundraising account, and anyone who donated $100 or more to him printed out his name and taped it to the bottom of his sled board.

This kind of thinking that pays attention everywhere and always does not forget to borrow the momentum of marketing is really extraordinary compared to ordinary athletes.

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, different ethnic groups have their own different costumes.

For Nathan, the naked, wearing only a skirt and flip-flops entrance is a national custom, but there is no doubt that this unique appearance will make him an overnight hit.

Regarding this eye-catching appearance, he said in a subsequent interview with the media that this is part of the Polynesian custom.

American Samoa belongs to the Polynesian civilization, and the South Pacific island nation retains this dress and culture to this day.

About the oil on the body, some media said it was coconut oil from the island country, and he himself said that it was baby oil and traditional habits.

As for the hot discussion of netizens, he responded that it was really cold at that time. Before the appearance, he jumped up and down and warmed up for a long time, so after taking off his coat, he did not feel very cold, "just cold hands, because the flagpole is made of metal."

He added: 'At 36, I'm at the end of my career, past the peak of my sport, but the thought of competing in two Olympics in seven months is pretty cool.'

Nathan's answers to the press were rigorous and sincere.

However, if through his experience before and after, this eye-catching effect is consistent with his self-marketing thinking, I do not know whether this is a coincidence.

In any case, the opening ceremony of the light Nathan, let us know an unusual athlete, a different customs of the country.

The most important thing is that from him, we understand another kind of mood of a professional athlete: originally, life can have so many creative, can be so cross-border, can live so wonderful!

Originally, even athletes, do not necessarily live so boring so tired.

Perhaps, in any profession, we can live a less dogmatic life.

The world is really big, life is very long, it is our own shackles our posture.

This is the light of Nathan's gossip, bring us the inspiration we should have! (over)