Pita Taufatofua

Pita Nikolas Taufatofua (born 5 November 1983) is a Tongan taekwondo practitioner and skier who lives in Australia.[2][3] Taufatofua became widely known after footage of his appearance at the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympics oiled and shirtless went viral. He was flagbearer for Tonga in both the 2016 Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics.

Pita Taufatofua
Taufatofua at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Full namePita Nikolas Taufatofua
Nickname(s)Tonga Flag Bearer
CitizenshipTongan
Born (1983-11-05) 5 November 1983
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
EducationTonga Side School
Tonga High School
Saint Peter's Lutheran College, Brisbane (graduated 2000)
Height1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight100 kg (220 lb)
Sport
SportTaekwondo
Cross-country skiing
Coached byVasini Piu
Paul Sitapa
(Both for Taekwondo)[1]

Early life

Taufatofua was born in Australia[2][3] on 5 November 1983[4] and raised in Tonga.[3] He attended Tonga Side School and Tonga High School,[5] and graduated from Saint Peter's Lutheran College in Brisbane in 2000.[6] His father is Tongan and his mother is Australian of British descent.[5] He began taekwondo at age five.[7] His childhood included such traditional Tongan activities as Saturday farmwork harvesting cassava.[8]

Sports career

Taekwondo career

In the course of his career he has experienced, by one account, "six broken bones, three torn ligaments, three months in a wheelchair, a year and a half on crutches and hundreds of hours of physiotherapy".[8]

At the 2016 Oceania Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament in February in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, he won his semi-final 4-3 before winning in the final against the 15th ranked fighter in the world to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.[9] He had previously tried to qualify for the Olympics on two occasions.[2] He was the first athlete from Tonga to compete in the Olympics in taekwondo.[3] He was Tonga's flagbearer for the opening ceremony.[2]

2016 Summer Olympics

Taufatofua appeared as Tonga's flag bearer in the Parade of Nations during the Olympics opening ceremony, which was held on 5 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During the parade, he wore nothing but a taʻovala (a Tongan mat which is wrapped around the waist), with his face and torso appearing noticeably shiny. Initially, many assumed that he was sweating profusely,[10] but it became apparent that he had applied copious amounts of oil to his torso.[2][3][11][12] Taufatofua's shirtless, oiled-up appearance garnered him fame on social media as footage of his appearance went viral.[3]

During the taekwondo tournament, Taufatofua was eliminated in his first bout by the Iranian Sajjad Mardani once the score escalated to 16-1.[13] Taufatofua made an appearance at the closing ceremony of the games, showing up after a musical number in the same costume he wore during the Parade of Nations.[14]

Cross-country skiing career

In December 2016, Taufatofua posted a video announcing his plans to train and compete in cross-country skiing.[15] He began learning form and technique by watching YouTube videos of professional races.[16] In January 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported he was one race away from qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, having completed most of his qualification requirements in roller ski races and only needing to make a final qualifying time on snow.[17] Taufatofua joined forces with skiers German Madrazo of Mexico and Yonathan Fernandez of Chile to form an independent training group that rented a cabin in Austria to train on snow and travel together to races. After slow finishes in seven snow races throughout January 2018, Taufatofua's last opportunity was a race on 20 January in Ísafjörður, Iceland. Taufatofua, Madrazo, and Fernandez almost missed the race due to road closures from snowstorms and an avalanche, but ultimately Taufatofua succeeded in qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in the Iceland race on the final day of the qualification period.[18][19] He is the second Tongan to compete in the Winter Olympics, after 2014 luger Bruno Banani.[18]

2018 Winter Olympics

As the only representative of Tonga in the 2018 Winter Olympics, Taufatofua was again the flagbearer for his country in the 2018 Winter Olympics Parade of Nations. Despite the temperatures being below freezing – and telling the media before the ceremony that he would not walk shirtless – he again wore nothing but a traditional ta’ovala mat wrapped around his waist, baring an oiled chest and torso.[20]

On Friday 16 February 2018, he completed the 15km freestyle race, coming in 114th place out of 119 skiers.[21]

Canoeing career

In April 2019, it was reported Taufatofua would attempt to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics, this time in sprint canoeing. He told the BBC, "It's a sport that's close to my heart as it's what my ancestors did for thousands of years when they colonised the Polynesian islands."[22] Taufatofua hoped to qualify for the one-man (K-1) 200-metre kayak event.[22]

At the World Canoe Sprint Championships in Hungary in August 2019, Taufatofua finished last in his opening round heat. In order to qualify for the 2021 Olympics, he would have had to win the K-1 200-metre event at the Oceania continental qualifier in February 2020. That attempt was unsuccessful.[23]

However, in February 2020, he qualified for the 2021 Summer Olympics for taekwondo, after winning gold in the M+80 kg, his second Olympic competition for the sport.[24]

Personal life

Taufatofua grew up with his parents and six siblings in a one-bedroom house in Tonga, which the family lost in a tropical storm.[22] As an adult he splits his time between his home nation and Brisbane, Australia.[22] Taufatofua is a UNICEF ambassador and spends time working with homelessness charities, including at Sandgate House training homeless children to develop independent living skills.[22][25] He also works to raise awareness of global warming, which threatens his island nation of Tonga.[22]

He has an engineering degree and is working on his master's degree.[8] He has also worked as a model beginning at age eighteen.[8]

References
  1. Pita Nikolas Taufatofua Archived 23 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. nbcolympics.com
  2. Martin Rogers; Dan Wolken (5 August 2016). "Introducing the Tonga flagbearer who glistened during Rio Olympic opening ceremony". USA Today. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  3. Palazzo, Chiara (6 August 2016). "Opening Ceremony: Who is Tonga's bare-chested flag bearer?". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  4. "Pita Nikolas Taufatofua". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  5. "Pita Taufatofua". Coconet. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  6. "St. Peter's Lutheran College (official)". Facebook. 7 August 2016. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018.
  7. "Tonga's Taekwondo Olympian welcomed home". Nuku'alofa Times. 15 March 2016. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. Tonga, Matangi (4 August 2016). "Painful Road to Rio". The Fiji Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  9. "Tonga's Pita Taufatofua qualifies for Rio Olympic". Loop Tonga. 2 March 2016. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  10. "Internet in a frenzy over Olympic flag-bearer Pita Taufatofua". NY Daily News. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  11. "Der heimliche Held kam im speziellen Röckchen". Die Welt (in German). 6 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  12. Aleythe, Saskia (6 August 2016). "Gut eingeölter Halb-Nackedei". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  13. Tonga flag-bearer Pita Taufatofua making the most of unexpected Olympic fame Archived 20 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  14. Oily flag bearer makes shiny comeback at Olympics Closing Ceremony Archived 23 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Tonga flag bearer Pita Taufatofua eyes 2018 Winter Olympics". NBC Sports. 5 December 2016. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018.
  16. Grez, Matias (9 February 2018). "Tonga's famous flag bearer Pita Taufatofua achieves his impossible dream". CNN.
  17. Robinson, Joshua; Cohen, Ben (4 January 2018). "Remember the Shirtless Tongan Flag-Bearer? He's Now a Cross-Country Skier". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  18. Zaccardi, Nick (20 January 2018). "Tonga flag bearer from Rio qualifies for Winter Olympics". www.olympics.nbcsports.com/. NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. Gartland, Dan (20 January 2018). "Shirtless Tongan Flag-Bearer Qualifys for Winter Olympics". www.si.com/. Time Inc. Sports Illustrated Group. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  20. Rogers, Martin (9 February 2018). "Despite frigid temperatures, Tonga's flag bearer shows up shirtless again at Winter Olympics opening ceremony". USA Today. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  21. "Winter Olympics: Tonga's Pita Taufatofua avoids last place in cross country skiing". BBC Sport. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  22. "Pita Taufatofua: 'Topless Tongan' targets sprint canoeing at Tokyo 2020". BBC Sport. 29 April 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  23. 2020 Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships and PA Canoe Sprint Grand Prix 2, reyults of Pita Taufatofua, retrieved 28 July 2020
  24. Asmelash, Leah. "Pita Taufatofua, the 'Shirtless Tongan,' just qualified for his third Olympics". CNN. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  25. Burke, Timothy. "Tongan Flag-Bearer Pita Taufatofua Owns The Olympics". Deadspin. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
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