Pita Taufatofua didn't finish last at the Cross-Country Skiing Men's 15km. Photo / Getty Images
Pita Taufatofua didn't finish last at the Cross-Country Skiing Men's 15km. Photo / Getty Images
To Pita Taufatofua, the hill in front of him was not an obstacle to be recklessly attacked.
Now that it had reached its climax, the whole absurd idea of becoming a dual Summer and Winter Olympian inside two years had boiled down to a simple case of survival – leftski followed by right, up and then down, backwards and forwards, again and again until the pain was over.
Which meant that, as the little known skiing figure of North Korea's Chun Gyong Han – a man who had almost tumbled over moments earlier and would go on to finish a lowly 101st – disappeared into the distance like Mo Farah dropping a club runner, Taufatofua remained unconcerned.
The Tongan best known for his topless exploits trudged on.
His arms rose and fell in the same manner as the elite cross country skiers who had already finished long before him, but he was able to produce scarcely half the output.
At this point he was not yet two kilometres into the 15km race.
Flag bearer of Tonga, Pita Taufatofua. Photo / Getty Images
When Taufatofua had stated his goals for his Olympic cross country skiing debut earlier this week, they had been endearingly modest: "First step, finish before they turn the lights off. And don't ski into a tree."
That he succeeded in both of those objectives was more of an achievement than it may initially sound.
It was only after his starring moment as Tonga's shirtless, oiled-up Rio 2016 flagbearer that skiing first crossed Taufatofua's radar, which is not surprising given the absence of both snow and mountains in Polynesia.
Having learnt his trade by strapping two wooden planks to his legs and running up sandhills, he then took advantage of a strange loophole that means roller ski races count as official Olympic qualification events.
If that sounds rather like a rower making it to the biggest competition in global sport by proving himself on an ergometer it is because it is just like that.
Indeed, Taufatofua only skied on snow for the first time a mere 12 weeks ago.
German Madrazo holds the flag of Mexico as he crosses the finish line and is met with friends. Photo / Getty Images
So, as skiers from Switzerland, Norway and the country we are not allowed to call Russia occupied the medal positions, Taufatofua found himself in a rather different battle "not to come last".
Wonderfully, the Tongan was in fine company.
First of all there were his two training partners – 43-year-old German Madrazo of Mexico, who only took up the sport after reading a magazine article last year, and Chilean Yonathan Fernandez.
There was also Colombian father of four Sebastian Uprimny, who resolutely stuck to his tried and tested method of tentatively snow ploughing his way down any descent he encountered.
There was North Korea's Il Chol Pak, who suffered the ignominy of teetering on the brink of disaster for what seemed like forever, before finally face-planting right in front of the main stand.
There were skiers from Portugal, Ecuador, Morocco and Lebanon – most of whom had been flagbearers at the opening ceremony by virtue of being their nation's only athletes at these Games.
And there was Brazilian Victor Santos, who grew up in Sao Paulo's largest favela and washed cars after school to survive.
These were the men for whom victory was never going to be determined by gold, silver or bronze, but by simply making it to the end. Despite resembling newborn foals struggling to manoeuvre their legs on an uncertain surface they did just that.
Taufatofua hoped to not hit a tree on the course. Photo / Getty Images
Every single one of them.
As Madrazo carried a Mexican flag across the line almost 26 minutes after Swiss winner Dario Cologna – who, it is worth noting, completed the 15km course in little more than 33 minutes – the Alpensia Cross Country Centre erupted to greet their final finisher and he was embraced by his fellow comrades who had completed the same unlikely mission.
"I'd rather be finishing towards the end of the pack with all my friends than in the middle by myself," said Taufatofua, who managed to come home ahead of Uprimny and Madrazo to finish 114th and avoid that dreaded last spot.
"I finished with the guys we fought together with and that was important for me.
"Everyone was at the front racing to come first, but we were racing not to come last. We'll have a good laugh about it."
Then the obvious question: what next? What could Tonga's most famous Olympian possibly do to follow his Rio 2016 taekwondo exploits and his cross country skiing performance in Pyeongchang?
The answer, of course, was simple: compete in a third sport at Tokyo 2020.
"Something to do with water," he announced. You can be sure he will bring his friends along for the ride.
