Topless Tongan avoids last place in Korea
‘ I’d rather be finishing towards the end of the pack with all my friends than in the middle by myself. We fought together, we finished together.’ PITA TAUFATOFUA
TOPLESS Tongan star Pita Taufatofua has once again starred and stolen hearts at an Olympic Games after avoiding finishing last in the 15km cross-country ski race at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Taufatofua shot to international fame when, as Tonga’s flagbearer, he walked shirtless and oiled-up into the ceremony of the Summer Games in Rio in 2016.
He then repeated the same trick at this year’s Winter Games in South Korea, this time in subzero temperatures, as the 34-yearold wore a manafau, a traditional dance skirt and jandals.
When competing on Friday, Taufatofua finished in 114th position and just under 23min behind the gold medallist, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, who recorded a time of 33min 43sec.
But he wasn’t last – Colombia’s Sebastian Uprimny and Mexico’s German Madrazo crossed the line with slower times – and the lastplaced Madrazo was then embraced by Taufatofua, Uprimny and Norway’s silver medallist Simen Hegstad when completing his run while hoisting the Mexican flag before a rousing reception in PyeongChang.
Madrazo finished almost 3min behind Taufatofua’s time of 56min 41.1sec and the Tongan, who com- peted in taekwondo in Brazil two years ago, said he wants to try a third Olympic sport just to get warm again.
Taufatofua and Madrazo have been training together. The Tongan skiier only hit snow for the first time 12 weeks ago. ‘‘I don’t know about being the most popular man, but I’m the coldest man,’’ he told the BBC. ‘‘I’d rather be finishing towards the end of the pack with all my friends than in the middle by myself. We fought together, we finished together. Everyone was at the front racing to come first, we were racing not to come last, but we’ll have a good laugh over dinner.’’
After finishing third last in the 15km cross-country ski race, Taufatofua hinted he would try a water sport before the next Summer Games in Tokyo in 2020.