Tag: Pita Taufatofua

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Shirtless Tongan Pita Taufatofua Is Back At The Olympic Games

Pita

Pita
3-time Olympic athlete Pita Taufatofua of Tonga (screen capture)
Pita Taufatofua, the shirtless Olympic athlete from Tonga, is back at the Olympic Games. You’ll recall he became an overnight sensation at the 2016 Rio Games when he appeared in the opening ceremony’s Parade of Nations in a traditional (shirtless) Tongan costume. Even though he lost his first taekwondo match, he was one of the most memorable athletes to emerge from the games. Two years later, he competed at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He was the only member of Team Tonga at the event where he competed in cross-country skiing. He is only the second Tongan to ever compete in a Winter Olympics. Luger Bruno Banani was the first in 2014. Taufatofua will compete in his original sport of taekwondo at his 3rd Olympic Games in Tokyo. His worldwide acclaim has led him to become a motivational speaker and a UNICEF ambassador working with homeless charities. The Twitterverse was thrilled to see the handsome athlete return.

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Grab The Coconut Oil, Pita Taufatofua Is Going Back To The Olympics

Pita Taufatofua, whose shirtless entrance at the opening ceremonies of the past two Olympic Games nearly broke the internet, will be oiling up again for his third Olympics. The 36-year-old athlete from Tonga recently qualified for the 2020 Games in Tokyo having clinched a spot in taekwondo at a qualifying event in Australia.

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I dreamt my whole life of becoming an Olympian. My Mother had put me into Taekwondo as a five year old kid. To make three Olympics in a row was something I had never imagined. This third qualification was even more special because it wasn’t in some far away country but close to home where my family could attend. The look on my Mothers face when I qualified I will always remember. She said she was proud of seeing me qualify but was overcome with relief that I had gotten through the competition without more injury. My family has seen all the struggle and pain, they have been there through the broken bones and torn ligaments. I’m glad they were able to also be there to share in this special moment… #ThreeTimeOlympian #family #tokyo2020 #olympian #ThisOnesForThePlanet

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USA Today reports Taufatofua originally set out to qualify in a new sport for him – sprint kayak – having set a goal of qualifying for three consecutive Olympics in three different sports. But a rib injury in early February hampered his kayak training and impacted his performance in the qualifying races.

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Camp update- As is the nature of sports and life things rarely go to plan. Last week I tore my serratus muscles which connects to my rib causing sharp pain along my side and on my lower ribs. With a week and a half till my Olympic qualifier for Kayak and three weeks for Taekwondo it’s made any form of training challenging and painful. I haven’t been able to bend or twist or hold my core. For close to 5 months in this camp I haven’t missed a day of training and am in the best condition of my life. Normally before a competition an athlete will taper off. I decided not to taper but to ramp up my training to hit a speed bench mark. I’ve been running on the fence between improving rapidly in a new sport and pushing a limit to see what my body could take and how fast I could improve. My balance had finally gotten better and so I decided to push for speed. In the last three weeks I went from 8km/hr in a race kayak to a PB of 19.2km/hr. I was targeting 21+ km/hr by race day to be competitive and so I pushed harder. During a sprint session my body decided to push back and I’ve ended up with a torn muscle and rib injury. Not the worst injury I’ve had but definitely one of the more painful and inconvenient in terms of timing. We have decided to hold off paddling and kicking to see if the pain can subside. All we can do is upright stationary cycle and walk. My coach is back from NZ after having a beautiful baby boy to add to his family. We have been strategising how best to proceed. Other than the injury I am in the best physical and mental condition of my life. I didn’t fall out of my kayak 1000 times into a bull shark river just to stop. In times like this I go to prayer for help beyond what I can do alone. My spirits is high and we are doing all we can to maintain my condition while I heal. Come competition day whatever happens with the injury or the pain I will be in the kayak on that starting line and will hold nothing back, rib or no rib..whatever I have left I will give. This is a time where we have to rise to the challenge presented. I cant thank all of you enough for your support of this oily coconut that floated a long way from home. Ofa Atu

A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (@pita_tofua) on

The handsome athlete has continued to train in taekwondo, the sport which first sent him to the Olympics. Just weeks after falling short for kayaking, he pushed through the pain in Oceania’s qualification event to score his return ticket to Tokyo. Having trained in Taekwondo since the age of five, he was the first Tongan to ever compete in the sport for his country in the 2016 Games. He became a media sensation during those Games after his coconut oiled entrance as the flag bearer for Tonga. He told The Guardian at the time, “No one had ever heard of Tonga! We were like, how is this even possible?” The island nation of nearly 100,000 people sits on a group of islands east of Australia.

In December 2016, he announced he would learn to ski in order to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in cross-country skiing. He had never been on snow skis in his life prior to training for the sport. After slow finishes in several races, he traveled through a harrowing blizzard in the Arctic Circle to the final qualifying event. He made it to the race in time and became the second-ever Tongan to compete in a Winter Olympic Games. He was again the flag bearer in his shirtless, coconut oil glory at the opening ceremonies. He competed in the 15km freestyle race coming in 114th out of 119 skiers.

Some might have been disappointed, but for Taufatofua it was the effort and the journey that mattered. And sports fans were inspired by his undaunted spirit. Even though he’s already got a ticket to Tokyo, Taufatofua still plans on attempting to qualify for kayaking in what he calls a last-ditch effort. Not just a pretty face, when he’s not training he is studying at college having earned a degree in engineering and is currently working towards his master’s degree. He’s also a UNICEF ambassador and spends time working with homeless youth charities as well as working to raise awareness of global warming. In his most recent Instagram post, he wrote, “I promised myself to always remember where I came from, to remain grounded. Unlike Icarus, I could never fly too close to the sun (coconut oil, like my eyebrows, is flammable) – I would approach life with the mindset of ‘it’s only just beginning.’” “I wanted to help as many people as possible reach their full potential, to show them what they too were capable of achieving,” he added. “I wanted to bring awareness to our beautiful planet, our oceans and the problems it faces.” “So now it’s time for us to bumble our way towards another Olympics,” he concluded. “So sit back with your seat in an upright position, stow your tray tables, put your flu mask on, disinfect your hands and join me on this ride towards Tokyo and beyond!” Happy Hump Day to Pita Taufatofua, a true inspiration.

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Its been a very busy week since the qualification. Ive been receiving messages, doing countless interviews and been sent news links from people in all different parts of the world. It’s more amusing then anything for me. I laugh and sometimes cringe at the ones I read. I remember long before my first Olympic qualification I made a promise to myself. I had noticed that many athletes, Olympians, movie stars, musicians who made it and then just stopped. Some drunk, snorted or self sabotaged themselves into a bad place. In some ways I felt for them and their struggles. I saw this long before I accidentally slipped into my first news article. I promised myself to always remember where I came from, to remain grounded. Unlike Icarus I could never fly too close to the sun ( coconut oil, like my eye brows is flammable) – I would approach life with the mind set of ‘ its only just beginning’. The wolf climbing the hill was always hungrier then the wolf on top of the hill, I would stay hungry. But most importantly I would need to remember to keep at the forefront a purpose much larger than self and ego. I wanted to help as many people as possible reach their full potential, to show them what they too were capable of achieving. I wanted to bring awareness to our beautiful planet, our oceans and the problems it faces. And the best way I know how to do this is to get my ass kicked time after time as I climb that hill that has no summit. So now it’s time for us to bumble our way towards another Olympics. So sit back with your seat in an upright position, stow your tray tables, put your flu mask on, disinfect your hands and join me on this ride towards Tokyo and beyond! #StayHungry #ThisOnesForThePlanet #Tonga #Olympian #Tokyo2020 @nbcsports @olympicchannel

A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (@pita_tofua) on

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Tongan Olympian Pita Taufatofua Goes Shirtless For PyeongChang Closing Ceremonies

Summer & Winter Olympian Pita Taufatofua

Ah, yeah.

I knew everyone’s favorite Olympian from Tonga – Pita Taufatofua – wouldn’t let us down for the closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The unlikely Winter Olympian, Tonga’s second ever, oiled up once again for the closing ceremonies in PyeongChang today.

After capturing the world’s attention in the 2016 Rio Summer Games, Pita decided he wouldn’t wait four more years to compete at the Olympics again. Instead, he learned to cross-country ski from scratch in the course of a year and qualified for these Winter Games.

Check my full report on his incredible, inspiring story here.

Did he think he’d medal? No.

But watch this interview below as he explains that, for him, the journey was about getting out of comfort zones and inspiring others to do the same.

This is Olympic spirit.

You go, Pita. I’m still cheering for you.

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Shirtless Tongan Pita Taufatofua Finishes His Cross-Country Ski Olympic Event

Pita Taufatofua

Pita Taufatofua, who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Taekwondo and in the last year learned cross-country skiing in 2017 to compete in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, finally ran his race today.

Exalting that he “finished the race and didn’t ski into a tree,” the handsome Tongan gratefully accepted his 114th place finish in the men’s 15KM Free, which wasn’t last!

Pita finished 23 minutes behind gold medal winner Dario Cologna, but ahead of Sebastian Uprimny of Colombia and German Madrazo from Mexico.

In case you missed it, check out my report on Pita’s incredible journey to the Winter Olympics here.

Two days ago, Pita shared his strategy with USA Today, “First step, finish before they turn the lights off. That’s number one. Don’t ski into a tree. That’s number two.”

On Instagram, Pita posted the photo above with this message:

“Couldn’t be happier! Got my best time, finished the race and didn’t ski into a tree! But more importantly, I got to share the experience with all our friends from the other exotic countries who never gave up! Soo much respect to them, the medalists and all athletes from around the world who represented their countries with pride”

Pita had this inspiring message for his home country:

Pita was at the finish line to cheer his friend German Madrazo to the end:

Because he is my friend….A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (Pita T) (@pita_tofua) on Feb 16, 2018 at 9:42am PST

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Shirtless Tongan Athlete Is Back For 2018 Winter Olympics

One of the highlights of 2016 Summer Olympics was Pita Taufatofua, flag bearer for Tonga, during the opening ceremony. The moment he entered the Maracanã Stadium for the Parade of Nations he became a media sensation.

Wearing just a necklace and traditional ta’ovala, a Tongan mat, his muscled, oiled body and handsome face captured the world’s attention.

Representing the tiny South Pacific nation in taekwondo, Taufatofua was unfortunately eliminated in his first bout.

But, as I recently reported, the Tongan athlete decided he didn’t want to wait four years to compete at the Olympics again so in an improbable and incredible journey he learned how to cross-country ski in one year.

He traveled the world to participate in qualifying races and, amazingly, finds himself at the 2018 Winter Olympics as only the second athlete from Tonga to ever qualify for a Winter Games.

And he didn’t disappoint during the opening ceremonies today as he once again carried his country’s flag (yes, shirtless) during the Parade of Nations.

This guy just kills me. True Olympic spirit.

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Podcast: Shirtless 2016 Summer Olympian Heading To 2018 Winter Olympics; A Giant In The World Of HIV/AIDS Passes

In this week’s podcast:

• Remember shirtless, hunky, handsome 2016 Taekwondo Summer Olympian Pita Taufatofua? He’s making his bid to become the first Winter Olympian from Tonga and his story is truly inspiring (Link to his GoFundMe campaign here).

• U.S. Olympic Figure skater Adam Rippon is not having Vice President Pence.

• A giant in the world of HIV/AIDS, Dr. Mathilde Krim, passed away this week at the age of 91.

• Bob Smith, the trailblazing first-out standup comedian on The Tonight Show, passed away at 59.

• West Point Chapel celebrated its first same-sex wedding between active duty service members.

 All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report.

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Tonga’s Summer Olympic Sensation Pita Taufatofua Incredible Bid For 2018 Winter Olympic Games

Pita Taufatofua at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Now, many of you will remember how the world stopped when hunky, handsome, coconut-oiled Pita Taufatofua of Tonga made his entrance at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics carrying his country’s flag.

After two previous attempts to qualify, Pita made it to the Summer Olympics to compete in Taekwondo. Unfortunately, he was eliminated early in Rio.

But his good looks and upbeat personality definitely made an impression on the world. He was featured on NBC’s The Today Show and in the games’ closing ceremonies.

Four months later, he announced to his burgeoning social media that he wasn’t waiting four years for the next Summer Olympics. He decided to pick a winter sport and qualify for the Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang.

He picked cross-country skiing.

Now, living in Brisbane, Australia, with no snow nearby presented an obvious challenge.

That and the fact that he’d never picked up a pair of skis.

But Pita was a man on a mission.

Over the course of a year, Pita would need to drop 30 pounds from his muscular Taekwondo physique and learn to ski in tropical weather.

Instead of driving long hours to the nearest mountain in the winter, he worked out on the beach with roller-skis.

According to the Wall Street Journal which has chronicled this story in detail, there’s an Olympic rules loophole that didn’t require him to ski on snow. After the Sochi games, the International Ski Federation changed its rules to allow points from roller-skiing events to count towards cross-country skiing.

To just qualify for the 2018 Olympic games, Pita needed five finishes that satisfied a formula designed to keep newbies like him out of the Olympics. In a truly herculean effort, Pita achieved four qualifying finishes during a week of roller-skiing in Colombia this winter.

But Pita found himself one finish short. And there were no more roller-skiing events left.

Pita raised funds via GoFundMe (Tongan culture frowns heavily on asking for support) and headed to Austria to train with a real coach in the snow.

With only six weeks to the 2018 Winter Games, there was a lot to be learned: basics like letting a faster skier pass you and knowing the different kinds of wax for your skis depending on conditions like dry snow, wet snow, hard snow, soft snow. Pita only had a stick of snowboard wax purchased on eBay.

In late December, Pita used the last of his money to compete in the final races of the season in Europe. But being new to the pace, altitude, and conditions of actual cross-country skiing he fell short.

Choosing a race in Armenia over Croatia didn’t give him the results he so badly needed. Pita only had “hard track” skis and the night before the event a blanket of powder snow fell on the track.

In a harrowing journey he shared on his Instagram, he decided to make a mad dash to that final Croatian race. With no flights nearby, Pita traveled six hours via taxi.

After racing across 5 countries over 24 hours to Istanbul Airport, he arrived at the gate 15 minutes before his flight was scheduled to depart.

But – Turkish Airlines had closed the gate and would not allow him on the plane. Truly heartbreaking.

He posted a photo of his airline ticket in hand from the airport gate with the plane in the background.

In truth, I read Pita’s post six days ago and marveled at his world-class determination. This IS Olympic spirit. Sitting at my desk, I sat back and applauded all this incredible effort.

And then.

This morning my blogger buddy Larry at The OUTFront sent me a link to the next ‘straight-out-of-the-movies’ chapter that had escaped me. Total props to Larry for following through.

A few days after missing his flight, Pita heard “whispers” of one more qualifying race near the Arctic Circle in northern Iceland. Over two days, he and his friends tried to reach the event even under the downpour of a massive snowstorm.

Reaching the event, the storm continued. But Pita used the time to keep conditioning himself indoors.

I know you’re waiting for me to type the words, so here you go via Pita:

“On the last day of my Olympic qualification, at the end of the world, I said a little prayer before my race and then a miracle happened! TONGA IS GOING TO THE WINTER OLYMPICS! 🇹🇴 Mathew 17:20 -Faith”

Technically, the only thing left is for Tonga to name him to the Olympic team but considering there are no other Tongan skiers, I think he has this.

He will be the first Tongan skier in Winter Olympics history. Tonga’s only previous Winter Olympian was Fuahea Semi who finished 32nd out of 39 in the men’s luge event four years ago at the Sochi Games.

However, other countries have Olympic Federations and support groups but not Tonga. Pita will have to fund his own way to South Korea.

If you are so inclined, I urge you to donate anything you might feel appropriate to his GoFundMe here.

If anyone has ever demonstrated Olympic “can-do” spirit, it’s this guy.

Check out his Instagram journey below.

This is me and an Armenian taxi driver speeding on a 6 hr drive from Armenia through the border to Georgia to catch a flight. I’m not sure what the red light is for but I hope it makes the car go faster. My race in Armenia didn’t work out. The night before the race we had a downpour of fresh soft snow which doesn’t work so well for my one pair of Hard track skis, that mixed with my weight and I struggled through the course. 21 hills and I felt every one. But there are no excuses, I fell short of the mark. I chose the Armenia race over the Croatia race and paid the price. As soon as I finished the race I decided no matter what we would try and find a way to get to Croatia by tomorrow morning. None of the flights connected so we searched all surrounding countries on both sides and here I am next to my friend who doesn’t speak a word of English, probably a good thing as I need the rest. My amigo from Chile Yona helped by lending me a pair of his skis in case the conditions are soft snow again and we waxed them on the hotel dining table. My other amigo German from Mexico helped find a private taxi to try and get to the race on time. There is a very slim chance we will get to Croatia in time for this race and with no sleep. Wherever there’s a chance we will take it. We don’t give up. #armenia #georgia #turkey #croatia all in 12 hrs #noSleep #olympian #life
A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (Pita T) (@pita_tofua) on Jan 12, 2018 at 4:06pm PST
I raced through 5 countries in the last 24hrs to try and get to my race in Croatia. I sat in a taxi for 6 hrs driving through Armenia into Georgia in the middle of the night. I sat on the front seat of the @turkishairlines plane, sprinted through the airport and snuck through the business class fast transit lane and somehow managed to arrive at the gate 15 min before departure for my flight to Croatia. Once there I found that @turkishairlines had shut the gate early even after their delayed initial flight from Georgia, leaving me stranded. After remembering a scene from a James Bond movie, I pressed all the buttons on the aerobridge door to see if I could somehow open it and sprint down to the connecting flight, unfortunately that didn’t work, and luckily I didn’t get arrested. So here I am sitting at Istanbul airport missing the race that could have possibly gotten me to the Olympics. It was always going to be a long shot but I had to give it a shot and I did. Soo many times in life we will get disappointed. When this happens I have two options. I can sit on that chair crying about what could have been and how unfair life is…. or I can go and find some good quality chocolate, pull out my notepad and start planning “what’s next”— I always did like chocolate…
A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (Pita T) (@pita_tofua) on Jan 14, 2018 at 5:10pm PST

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News Round-Up: October 25, 2016

Pita Taufatofua

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Tonagan Olympian Pita Taufatofua is still dancing in our dreams.

• Sen. Marco Rubio booed off the stage by Hispanic crowd at a campaign stop in Orlando, Florida.

• Professional d*ck Sean Hannity promises to fly Obama and family to Kenya on the condition they “can’t come back.”

• The Cook Political Report predicts Democrats will regain control of the U.S. Senate by picking up 5-7 seats this election cycle.

• In a blow to the RNC, the Trump campaign says it’s done with high-dollar fundraising events. “We’ve kind of wound down.”

• The Real O’Neals “Kenny” gets ready to celebrate his first Halloween as an openly gay teen – “The Gay Super Bowl!”