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Home / Sport

Tongan flagbearer Pita Taufatofua qualifies for Winter Olympics

NZ Herald
20 Jan, 2018 09:52 PM3 mins to read
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Tongan flag bearer Pita Taufatofua. Photo / Getty Images.

Tongan flag bearer Pita Taufatofua. Photo / Getty Images.

Tongan flagbearer Pita Taufatofua, who garnered worldwide attention when he carried the Tongan flag oiled up and shirtless at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics, has qualified for next month's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The former taekwondo athlete switched codes to cross-country skiing following a disappointing first round exit in Rio, and has become Tonga's first-ever skiier to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

"After Rio I decided to find the hardest sport possible because I needed a new challenge," he said.

"You've got to put your body through something really challenging and the goal was to do it in one year - and we did it in one year!"

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The 34-year-old's admission into the tournament came down to the final race of his qualification campaign in Iceland.

The Tonga Ski Federation said he finished with enough points required to book his flights to Pyeongchang.

Taufatofua's quest to qualify for the Pyeongchang Olympics has been eventful.

His training consisted of beach workouts and roller-skiing along the streets of Brisbane, Australia as he learned his new sport from scratch.

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Since arriving in Germany things haven’t exactly gone to Plan. First there was no snow so we made do on roller skis. But then it’s been raining most of the week making roller skiing dangerous on the slippery roads. We learnt a completely new technique called classic which I will be racing in this week( after 2 days of practice) and on day two the roller skis broke mid session leaving me with a face full of gravel and bent wheels. Our competition fund ran dry and with the last of the funds we booked a ticket to Colombia in the hope of getting some much needed race points. I was then told that I would do my first long distance event , despite training all year for a short sprint. My body is over 40lbs heavier then most of the other skiers. ( they need more taro) And to throw a a spanner into it all the race in Colombia has been moved from just above sea level to 2600m above sea level, a height people can get altitude sickness from let alone racing a distance event in. But like most things I find it amusing :) Who said it was going to be easy? - #IfTheyCantFindMeIveStoppedMidRaceAtaCafe - - @tongaskiteam @atomicnordic @fischersports_nordic @fiscrosscountry @madshus1906 @onewaysport

A post shared by Pita Taufatofua (@pita_tofua) on Nov 28, 2017 at 4:57pm PST

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