David Tua’s ‘O for Awesome’ saga
On the personalised plates of David Tua’s black Mini Cooper is a phrase every bit as synonymous with the heavyweight great as his feared left hook: 040SUM.
It’s a mark of Tua’s character that he’s able to poke fun at himself almost 30 years on from that infamous appearance on Wheel of Fortune, when he was ridiculed for something he didn’t say.
Tua was a nervous 19-year-old fresh from winning bronze at the Barcelona Olympics when he took part in a celebrity edition of the game show on October 10, 1992.
On his first spin of the wheel, the Samoan-born slugger made the mistake of requesting a vowel (the rules meant only consonants were allowed at that stage).
But it was the descriptor he used that would change his life forever.
What many viewers heard – or chose to hear – Tua say was ‘‘O for awesome’’.
He has always maintained he said ‘‘O for Olsen’’, in reference to trailblazing Samoan rugby league icon Olsen Filipaina, one of his heroes growing up.
Yet for some reason Tua’s entirely plausible explanation was disregarded, and the expression stuck. The show’s late host, Phillip Leishman, insisted Tua had uttered the immortal line and was backed up by several producers.
As a result, Tua suffered the indignity of having his intelligence mocked by the public and a Pa¯ keha¯ dominated media that seldom gave a platform to Pacific voices.
Like punches in the ring, he was expected to take those hurtful jibes on the chin and laugh them off.
Only by embracing those three words – which over the years have been emblazoned on T-shirts, mugs and pillows, and even given name to a beer – was Tua able to take the sting out of them.
Tua did not respond to requests for comment, but told author Patrick Skene for his 2020 book, The Big O: The life and times of Olsen Filipaina, that he had ‘‘made peace’’ with being misquoted and was happy to be ‘‘linked in with the great Olsen Filipaina’’.
Yet it seems perverse that he should have to come to terms with a phrase he never uttered, while having his own account of the saga ignored.
Asked why so many New Zealanders were quick to mock someone who had just represented their country with distinction, Samoan actor and film-maker Oscar Kightley doesn’t hold back.
‘‘I think they are a bit racist. There’s no other way to put it really,’’ he said.
‘‘I think those racist people were keen to believe the stereotype [about Pasifika people] and cast him in that role, which was terribly unfair and disrespectful.’’
Kightley, who grew up in the same village as Tua, said his fellow Samoan was long overdue an apology for the episode and had shown great dignity over the years by ‘‘not letting it get to him’’.
‘‘David’s always had a pretty positive attitude to life, whatever happens,’’ Kightley said.
‘‘Out of the ring he’s been through some tough times, and he’s always fought through and he’s always had that smile and that dignity and that respect for his family and for his community. He’s never dishonoured himself.
‘‘I don’t think people appreciate that aspect of David Tua enough.’’
Dr David Small, a senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury who has researched race in New Zealand, agreed that racism played a part in Tua’s take being disregarded.
‘‘I have to say I bought into the ‘O for Awesome’ story from the time it happened until I heard the alternative account of it,’’ he said.
Small was in no doubt that the prevailing attitudes of the time meant people would ‘‘more readily believe that someone like David Tua would actually think ‘awesome’ started with an ‘O’ than they would with a Pa¯ keha¯ equivalent, a John Kirwan or whoever’’.
‘‘To readily jump in and believe that what they thought they heard was what they actually heard, that can’t happen without racism,’’ he said.
He was not surprised that Tua had made light of the incident over the years, saying this was common within minority communities as people sought to fit in.
‘‘What alternative does he have, other than accommodate it, and make the most of it?’’, Small asked.
‘‘People who are subjected to that form of racism in our supposedly non-racist society are constantly accommodating things like that, which perhaps don’t have that same level of profile.
‘‘That’s how communities like the Pasifika community learn to survive and function in this society – not stopping the conversation at every point where something like this happens.’’
Small suggested the fact that the episode was now being viewed through a different lens was a sign of ‘‘social progress’’. He felt it was important to consider its impact on Tua ‘‘if we want to create a less racist and more inclusive society’’.
‘‘If we look back at the language and expressions and things that were said in the media 20, 30, 40 years ago, lots of people would be quite horrified. Perhaps this is an example of that,’’ he said of the media’s role in setting the narrative.
‘‘The fact that some of those sorts of things are not seen as acceptable any more, we should feel like we are making some progress.’’
Since retiring from boxing in 2013 with a record of 52 wins, two draws and five losses, Tua has preferred to keep a low profile, training youngsters in his Onehunga gym and engaging in charity and community work.
The 49-year-old was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to youth, boxing and the community in 2019 in recognition of his efforts to help the less fortunate.