Olympic Throwback Thursday: When Tonga's shirtless Pita Taufatofua became global sensation

Not a lot of people would have any memory regarding the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony except the presence of Tonga's shirtless Olympic flag bearer. Had it not been for oil on the body and a knack for flag bearing, Pita Taufatofua would have gone unnoticed in the Olympic Games. Born in Australia and raised in Tonga, Taufatofua covered himself in oil and passed lakhs of people on his way to the stadium. As the cameras spotted him, the taekwondo practitioner became an internet sensation. Soon, Twitter timeline and Facebook news feed were flooded with his pictures and videos. 

Taufatofua, speaking to The Guardian, recalled that things went crazy and his phone kept ringing with notifications at that time. The Tonga flag bearer said that he was unprepared for it as he was only wearing his traditional costume representing 1,000 years of history. The global attention put a lot of pressure on Pita Taufatofua as it was certain that his taekwondo match would be watched by millions. The Tongan was knocked out in the first round. However, he won the task of making his country visible. A week after the 2016 Olympics opening ceremony, 230 million Google searches were already made for "where is Tonga?" the British media house claimed.

Taufatofua to compete in Tokyo Olympics

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Taufatofua is back. He will be representing his nation in taekwondo. He secured his berth last February after winning his maiden bout at the Oceania Taekwondo qualification tournament, beating Steven Tommy of Papua New Guinea. Since his qualification, the three-time Olympian is training hard for the Games. Speaking to the media, Taufatofua said that he is trying to remain positive and focused for the event.

Taufatofua's initial goal was to qualify for three different Olympic Games in different sports. Apart from taekwondo, he qualified in the 2018 Olympics Winter Games in cross-country skiing but finished 114th out of 119. He then turned his focus to sprint kayaking. However, he failed to qualify for the sport on two occasions, first due to rib injury and then due to COVID-19 related restrictions. This year, Taufatofua is not expected to be seen shirtless in the opening ceremony as Tonga has announced another Tonga's taekwondo star Malia Paseka as flag bearer.

IMAGE: AP