Olympian with Hawaii ties slides from sledding to book writing

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Being an Olympian can be expensive. It’s why an athlete with Hawaii ties is trading in his bobsled for the written word.

Nathan Ikon Crumpton is a veteran in skeleton, a winter sliding sport where a person races a sled lying face down and head-first on a track.

He went viral during this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics for his shirtless flag-bearing appearance and as the sole competitor for American Samoa. After making it to the finals, Crumpton decided to retire.

“It’s certainly not a cheap, cheap endeavor. We don’t make the money that the NBA players do that the NFL players do. And that’s why we have the side gigs to do whether it’s writing or photography or anything else,” he said.

Crumpton wrote a new book called “Alpha Status,” calling it a contemporary version of “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Crumpton says some characters were inspired by friends who changed after working on Wall Street. He said they became obsessed with the pursuit of money, women and status.

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