Am Samoa’s Olympian Nathan Crumpton carries on the Samoan Tradition

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The worldwide attention and support of ASA Olympian Nathan Crumpton is humbling and much appreciated. There have been many obvious references to Pita Taufatofua, the Tongan flag bearer, which is an honor given who he represents, the person he is, and what he is fighting for.

Our prayers and blessings go out to Pita, his family, and the proud people of Tonga. In fact, with a population of 50k, the American Samoa local community are currently on track to raising over $300k for the Tongan relief effort.

At the 2012 Summer Games in London, American Samoa wrestler, Nathan Tuamoheloa (above), whose parents happen to be Samoan and Tongan, was the first person to walk in the opening ceremonies shirtless, wearing a traditional American Samoa outfit. Nathan Crumpton wanted to carry on this tradition. He marched last night to not only represent the proud people and culture of American Samoa, but all the Pacific Island countries and cultures.

We are grateful for the last minute support from donors such as Eveni Carruthers of Samoa who supplied the delegation with tradition shirts and outfits to wear throughout the games, ANAMUA of Hawaii who provided Nathan with the cultural Samoa ensemble for the opening parade and Columbia Sportswear of Oregon who donated the winter wear to help keep the delegation warm during the games.

These businesses along with our local sponsors Toyota ASCO Motors, Samoa News, South Seas Broadcasting (93KHJ), and GHC Reid, were a big help in making all this possible.

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