One of the "highlights" of Tokyo Olympic 2020 opening ceremony was seeing the Tonga flag bearer going topless, showing off his amazing and kinda oily physique. This is Pita Taufatofua's 3rd time bearing the flag of Tonga. Each time, somehow (of course we know why exactly), he made the march not as boring.
But little did you know, that this internet sensation does not just sit and train at home for his career. This Tongan athlete in Taekwondo has an inspiring story, a purpose, he wished to share.
| ‘I’m going to be an Olympian’ |
Taufatofua was born in Australia on 5 November 1983 and grew up in Tonga. At age 5, he began practicing taekwondo.
In 1996, "The Tongan Warrior" - boxer Paea Wolfgramm fought for Olympic gold in Atlanta. Pita was 12 at the time. With his friend, they crowded around a window, peeking into one house with TV in the neighborhood, while goats and cows roaming behind them. The country welcomed their first-ever Olympic medalist home in style. Pita and some of his classmates, hold up Paes Wolfgramm's name when the boxer cruises down the main road on a float. Paea waved, and Pita glowed.
At that moment, Pita said to himself : I'm going to become an Olympian.
| His First Challenge |
Despite the fact that he was already a budding taekwondo at that time, his family was having a tough time. Once, the family of 9 - parents and 6 siblings - lived in a one-bedroom house, with limited electricity and water, and fewer than 3 meals a day. Pita's parents worked hard and have saved up any penny they could in hope to put their children through college.
Pita went off to the University of Queensland in Australia to study engineering. But that thought of becoming an Olympian still burning in his heart.
One day, he borrowed a VHS tape from the library, titled Greatest Moments of the Olympic Games. The film chronicled underdogs, people who finished their race even when they were injured. A rare emotions strikes him, seeing humans overcoming hardships. He teared. And he was surprised by his tears, thinking "What the hell? How it happened?"
It was "the will to keep on going", that he was touched by, and from that moment onwards, Pita vowed to carry it with him.
| Road to Rio |
2016's Olympic wasn't Taufatofua’s first run at the Olympics.
His first attempt ended before it began all because he couldn't afford the trip to Thailand for a taekwondo competition that offers qualification to the winner. Over the following years, he worked odd jobs. His primary job at a shelter for underserved youth supported him financially and has given him the positivity to fight.
In 2007 Pita went to the qualifier tournament. He lost the game and left in a wheelchair. For months, he couldn't walk because of his fractured leg.
Four years later, he went on to the world qualifying tournament. Eight weeks later, he fought in regional qualifier tournament with a torn knee ligament from the last game. Lost, again, and left on crutches.
"There were certainly low points, but there were never ‘no’ points,” referring to his experiences in 2007 & 2011, Pita said.
Thinking that things might go better, and yet, in 2016, he lost almost everything, his job, his car and even relationship, before going to the Oceania qualifying tournament. He scrounged around for money to fund his trip but came up empty. “Everything was going wrong,” he recalls. It was so "wrong" until the very last-minute, a woman came with plane tickets. He flew, he fought strong, and for the first time, he felt that strong surge of emotions he once felt back in the library many years ago after winning the tournament and made it to Rio Olympic.
Months later, Pita enjoyed every moment in the Rio Olympic. But the fame and shiny object wasn't his main focus, it was about the journey. About “overcoming my own inner challenges,” he says.
Which is why, he set his eyes on the next journey before departing Rio.
| A Rather Odd New Journey |
Taufatofua had never seen snow once in his life, and still, he sets to compete in the cross-country skiing in the upcoming Winter Olympics. “I chose it because it made no sense,” he said in an interview. “I love these challenges.” The more difficult, the more attractive they are.
He learned it via YouTube and 5 a.m. roller-skiing sessions in Germany. That is the first time ever, he saw snow. He then went back to Brisbane, Australia, and continued his training at the beach and on roller-skis at a local park.
To qualify himself for the game, he hopped a dozen countries in eight weeks and ran up $40,000 in credit card debt. He needed one more shot, and with his brother’s airline miles, he flew to Iceland, tried 3 times to drive through an Icelandic snowstorm to get to the tournament and, on the last day possible, he skied and qualified himself for the Winter Olympics.
When he got to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018, he told the reporters that his main goal in the competition was to “finish before they turn the lights off, that’s number one. Don’t ski into a tree, that’s number two.” He has knew very well, that he had no chance winning. But that doesn't discouraged at all, he’d dared himself to do something remarkable, and he’d succeeded it.
| Third sport and Third Olympic |
So you think that after his skiing attempt, this muscular dude would stop? Nah~
Pita has a new target now - kayaking. Master Paul, his coach, training partner and friend since their adolescence, started to learn about kayaking on YouTube and reading about the craft, while Pita began paddling in a recreational kayak, which is about 3 times the weight of a competition kayak. Pita trained in a river, which is infested with bull sharks. (He says he’s bumped into 2 of'em before.)
At his first international race, Pita could barely steady his boat at the starting line, and the entire competition waited for him. He finished last, with the leader finished in under 34 seconds. and him almost 25 seconds back.
Unfortunately, he injured a rib before competing in the qualifier round, and missed his chance to made it to Tokyo. However, he managed to win the taekwondo event 2 weeks later that qualifies him to compete in this year's Olympics. But still, he splits his time between the 2 sports. He remains positive that he'll somehow managed to get himself into the 200-meter kayak sprint at the Games. (Side note : sadly, the 200-meter sprint, will no longer be on the Olympic program at Paris 2024)
| The man he is now |
Not trying to be mean, but just by looking at the fact, Taufatofua has never been a medal contender. Even in his main/first event, he was ranked 87th globally in his taekwondo weight class when he entered Rio. Five years later today, he's 361st. The only reason he is able to join the Tokyo Olympics was because each continent is guaranteed one athlete per weight class and he had to win just one match against Papua New Guinea's Steven Tommy, in which he did.
Although Taufatofua sounded confident when asked if he could win his first Olympic medal, statistically speaking, that may not happen. But his chase in Olympic seems to be less about the destination, but more about the excitement of the eventful roller-coster that the chase presents.
Pita is now a motivational speaker, a writer and he is working for UNICEF. But talking about his career, trully, is “Olympian,” and it seems that he's not planning to end that career anytime soon. Some may assume that all that he's done is just a series of stunts, hoping to turn all the attentions he gets into fame. “My goal was never fame. And it still isn’t,” said Pita in a recent interview.
Perhaps, he is right. Underneath that muscle and viral shirtless fame, are years of struggle and injury and failure.
"The spirit of overcoming challenge and pushing through adversity. And that, to me, is what the Olympics is about,” says Pita “That's what drives me, that's why I'm still going. It doesn't end.”
