Tonga has competed in 11 Summer Olympic Games since its debut in 1984, and in only 2 Winter Olympic Games: 2014 and 2018. It became the smallest independent nation to win an Olympic medal in the Summer games when Super Heavyweight Boxer Paea Wolfgramm earned silver in the 1996 Super heavyweight 91 kg championships in Atlanta.
Tonga sought to enter a delegation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which would have been the country's first participation in the Winter Games. The Tonga Amateur Sports Association (TASA) announced that it intended to send one athlete to compete in the luge event. In December 2008, two male athletes (Fuahea Semi and Taniela Tufunga) were selected to travel to Germany for training, although only one of them would compete at the Olympics.[1][2][3] Semi was eventually selected as Tonga's candidate to compete in the Games, and was presented by his German sponsors under a new name, "Bruno Banani".[4][5][6][7] He failed to qualify, however, crashing in the final round of qualifications and ending the Kingdom's hopes of competing at the 2010 Games.[8] Banani qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, becoming the first Tongan athlete to compete at the Winter Games.[9]
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games
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Medals by Winter Games
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Medals by summer sport
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Boxing | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (1 entries) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
List of medalists
| Medal | Name | Games | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Silver | Paea Wolfgramm | 1996 Atlanta |  Boxing | Men's Super Heavyweight (>91 kg) |
See also
References
- ↑ "Wanted: strong, athletic, Tongan, looking for an icy challenge", Matangi Tonga, November 17, 2008
- ↑ "Even cooler runnings as Tonga take up luge", Sydney Morning Herald, November 21, 2008
- ↑ "Two Tongans ready for an icy challenge". Matangi Tonga. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- ↑ "Tonga's first luger Bruno Banani earned 41st place at Nations Cup in Calgary", official website of the Chinese Olympic Committee, November 27, 2009
- ↑ "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, its Luging time?", Spasifik Magazine, December 11, 2009
- ↑ "Tongan luger Bruno Banani exposed as a German marketing hoax", The Guardian, 31 January 2012
- ↑ "Wie Fuahea Semi zum Rodler Bruno Banani wurde", Der Spiegel, 29 January 2012
- ↑ "Tongan athlete narrowly misses out on Winter Olympics", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, February 1, 2010
- ↑ "Men's Luge results, 2014 Olympic Games", February 8, 2014
External links
- "Tonga". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
- "Tonga". Olympedia.com.
- "Olympic Analytics/TGA". olympanalyt.com.
