Tonga at the Olympics

Tonga has competed in eight editions of the Olympic Summer Games and two of the Olympic Winter Games. 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 at the
Olympics
IOC codeTGA
NOCTonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee
Websitewww.oceaniasport.com/tonga
Medals
Ranked 134th
Gold
0
Silver
1
Bronze
0
Total
1
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

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
See also: All-time Olympic Games medal count

Medals by sport
SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Boxing0101
Totals (1 entries)0101

List of medalists
Medal Name Games Sport Event
 SilverPaea Wolfgramm1996 Atlanta BoxingMen's Super Heavyweight (>91 kg)

See also

References
  1. "Wanted: strong, athletic, Tongan, looking for an icy challenge", Matangi Tonga, November 17, 2008
  2. "Even cooler runnings as Tonga take up luge", Sydney Morning Herald, November 21, 2008
  3. "Two Tongans ready for an icy challenge". Matangi Tonga. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  4. "Tonga's first luger Bruno Banani earned 41st place at Nations Cup in Calgary", official website of the Chinese Olympic Committee, November 27, 2009
  5. "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, its Luging time?", Spasifik Magazine, December 11, 2009
  6. "Tongan luger Bruno Banani exposed as a German marketing hoax", The Guardian, 31 January 2012
  7. "Wie Fuahea Semi zum Rodler Bruno Banani wurde", Der Spiegel, 29 January 2012
  8. "Tongan athlete narrowly misses out on Winter Olympics", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, February 1, 2010
  9. "Men's Luge results, 2014 Olympic Games", February 8, 2014
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