American Samoa Olympian goes topless at freezing Beijing opening

American Samoa’s flag bearer Nathan Crumpton takes part in the parade of athletes during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. (AFP)

American Samoa flag-bearer Nathan Crumpton added to a fledgling Olympic tradition by appearing shirtless and with his torso gleaming at the Beijing Winter Games opening ceremony yesterday despite sub-zero temperatures. The 36-year-old skeleton racer took his turn in the athletes’ parade as the sole competitor from the US territory, wearing only the skirt-like traditional lavalava and sandals. Crumpton follows in the footsteps of oiled-up Tongan Olympian Pita Taufatofua, who started the chilly trend. Despite the mercury falling well below freezing at the “Bird’s Nest” stadium in Beijing, Crumpton appeared unfazed. He was flanked by cheering volunteers decked in thick puffer jackets and gloves. Taufatofua’s first bare-chested appearance at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio won him global Internet fans with Tongan media calling him “the hottest man today in a town that’s known for its appreciation of the body beautiful”. Taufatofua, who had done taekwondo in Rio, repeated his feat at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after he qualified as a cross-country skier. His toned torso was challenged at the Tokyo Games opening ceremony last year by a rival topless parader from Vanuatu, Riilio Rii. Taufatofua is sitting out the Winter Games in Beijing but he gave Crumpton his support from afar, tweeting a photo of  the athlete at the Beijing ceremony with the caption: “American Samoa holding the fort.”Dutch target first medal in women’s 3,000m speed skating The Dutch will have all eyes on national darling Irene Schouten when she zooms around the National Speed Skating Oval at the Beijing 2022 Olympics with her sights set on gold. Competitions for the speed skating events at the Winter Games open today with the women’s 3000 metres individual discipline and the Dutch will be hoping to emulate the clean sweep they managed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Their hopes are pegged on Schouten, who has been unbeatable this year, winning every World Cup event she has contested. “One night of sleep before I give it all. Let the Games begin!” she posted on her Instagram account yesterday. Shouten chose not to take part in the most recent World Cup event in Calgary to attend the Netherlands’ qualifying events, pushing her down the rankings but securing her spot in the team. “It’s going well on the ice so far. I am mainly concerned with myself. I want to run a good race. With that comes the result,” Shouten told Dutch media this week. She will be up against Italian Francesca Lollobrigida, who won the Calgary event Schouten missed with a personal best of three minutes 54.44 seconds. Other Dutch team members will also be eyeing the top prize, including Carlijn Achtereekte, seeking to repeat her gold medal from Pyeonchang, and Antoinette de Jong, who won bronze. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic is also in the mix. She holds the world record at 3:52.02 from 2019 in Salt Lake City and won gold in the 3,000m at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.Beijing Winters Games see 21 new Covid cases A total of 21 new Covid-19 infections were found among Olympic Games-related personnel on Feb 3, down from 55 a day earlier, Games organisers said. Hours before the Winter Olympics officially got under way, the total number of confirmed cases among Games participants since Jan 23 was 308, among them six unnamed athletes of the German Olympic team, who tested positive after their arrival on Thursday. They have now gone into isolation and are undergoing further PCR tests, the German team said. An Australian athlete and an official also had to follow Covid-19 protocols after they were deemed close contacts, team chief Geoff Lipshut said. Athletes considered close contacts are isolated from the rest of the team but can continue training alone ahead of their competitions. Participants in Beijing are confined to a “closed loop” in order to prevent contact with the general public, moving between accommodation and Olympic venues on official transport. Every Games participant is also tested on a daily basis in an effort to identify any infections within the loop quickly.