Tonga at the Olympics explained

Noc:TGA
Nocname:Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee
Games:Olympics
Rank:134
Gold:0
Silver:1
Bronze:0

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 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 Summer Games

GamesAthletesGoldSilverBronzeTotalRank
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 61
0 0 0 0 -
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 -
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
future event
Total 0 1 0 1 137

Medals by Winter Games

GamesAthletesGoldSilverBronzeTotalRank
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
did not participate
future event
Total 0 0 0 0

Medals by sport

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20110527150103/http://www.matangitonga.to/article/sports/other/tonga_luge_171108.shtml "Wanted: strong, athletic, Tongan, looking for an icy challenge"
  2. http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/even-cooler-runnings-as-tonga-take-up-luge/2008/11/20/1226770644126.html "Even cooler runnings as Tonga take up luge"
  3. Web site: Two Tongans ready for an icy challenge . Matangi Tonga . 15 December 2008 . 13 December 2020.
  4. http://en.olympic.cn/news/sports_news/2009-11-27/1929235.html "Tonga's first luger Bruno Banani earned 41st place at Nations Cup in Calgary"
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20100101215932/http://www.spasifikmag.com/hpsportleisure01/11dec09tongascoolrunnings/ "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, its Luging time?"
  6. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jan/31/tongan-luger-banani-marketing-hoax?newsfeed=true "Tongan luger Bruno Banani exposed as a German marketing hoax"
  7. http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/vorab/0,1518,811941,00.html "Wie Fuahea Semi zum Rodler Bruno Banani wurde"
  8. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201002/2807009.htm?desktop "Tongan athlete narrowly misses out on Winter Olympics"
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165840/http://results.nbcolympics.com/luge/event/men/phase=lgm010102/index.html "Men's Luge results, 2014 Olympic Games", February 8, 2014