Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua has been named as one of the Olympic flagbearers for the Milano-Cortina Winter Games opening ceremony.
The Olympic flag features the five rings representing the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world.
It will be carried at two symbolic locations of the Games where the opening ceremony will take place: at Milan’s San Siro Olympic Stadium, accompanied by eight flag bearers, and in Cortina, with two flag bearers.
Taufatofua competed in taekwondo at the Summer Games at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and in cross-country skiiing in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.
He also attempted to qualify for Tokyo in kayaking – and become the first person to take part in three consecutive Olympics in three unrelated sports – but fell short.
He carried Tonga’s flag at the 2016 and 2018 Games, wearing traditional dress and covered in coconut oil, causing an internet sensation.
But on the taekwondo mat, his Games ended with a first-round elimination and 11th-equal place.
In Tokyo he fared better, finishing equal 7th overall.
He is also a UNICEF Pacific ambassador, advocating for children’s rights, education, and health, and has done a lot of humanitarian work in disaster relief, youth empowerment, education and climate resilience across the Pacific.
“I was actually doing this sort of stuff before really.
“I wasn’t a UNICEF ambassador but I was a youth worker for 15 years helping homeless kids get themselves out of homelessness was the main thing and helping to inspire and encourage them. To have a UN title, UN, UNICEF title is such a big thing; that wasn’t quite on the vision board.
“My biggest thing is always education, so making sure that kids all throughout the Pacific, and the world as well, is increased. These guys are the leaders of tomorrow.
“Number two is access to health and making sure that the kids grow up healthy and with access to good nutrition. The third thing is making sure that the voices of the kids are heard rather than the whole idea of talking down to kids; it’s about having to stylise it and asking them how they want their future to be.”
He was also involved in fundraising following the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami.
The ten flagbearers are chosen by the International Olympic Committee and Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 (the Games organisation).
They are “athletes, as well as individuals whose personal and professional journeys embody the principles of peace, unity and solidarity that inspire the Olympic movement”.
Other flagbearers include Brazil’s most-decorated Olympian, gymnast Rebeca Andrade, Italian writer and activist Nicolò Govoni, Kenyan long-distance runner and double marathon gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge, and Cindy Ngamba, the first athlete from the Refugee Olympic Team to win an Olympic medal (bronze in Paris 2024).
Source: RNZ
