Tonga's topless flagbearer to ski in Olympics

The Tongan taekwondo athlete, who garnered international attention at the Olympic opening ceremony in Brazil two years ago, said he had gone "to the end of the world" to book a place in South Korea.

A beaming Pita Taufatofua told the Olympic Channel he had made the cut after a series of cross-country skiing races in the last possible qualifying round in Iceland. 

"I have just qualified Tonga for the Winter Olympics, the first time in history," the 34-year-old said. "This was the last day of the qualification process. This was the last race possible and we did it."

Taufatofua's last-ditch push in Iceland came after almost a year of training on roller skis in the heat of his tropical island home and at his base in Brisbane, Australia.

"I've probably had maybe 10 weeks all up on snow because there is no snow where I'm from," he said.

A new challenge

Taufatofua competed in taekwondo at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. But after crashing out in the first round, the athlete announced he was on the lookout for a new challenge.

He chose cross-country skiing and set his sights on becoming the first Tongan male athlete to compete in the Olympic event. But reaching his goal was far from easy. 

"I had seven races and they all failed. I did my best but I fell short each time, and I thought there's one race left and it's at the end of the world," he said. "We're in the Arctic circle. We're in Iceland, and I thought, 'I have to give it all. It's grave or glory.' And I gave it absolutely everything and I'm so happy."

Taufatofua's bid to make it to the Olympics has also taken a financial toll, with much of his funding coming from a crowd-funding campaign.

"We sacrificed everything to be here. Financially I'm in the worst position ever but I'm the happiest ever," he said.

"People don't see the hard work that goes behind (it), they just see the shiny guy that walks with the flag."

nm/rc (Reuters, AFP)