From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tongan delegation to the 2014 Winter Olympics
Sporting event delegation
Tonga
sent a delegation to compete at the
2014 Winter Olympics
in
Sochi
,
Russia
from 7?23 February 2014. This was the Pacific island nation's debut at the
Winter Olympic Games
. The Tongan delegation consisted of one
luge
athlete,
Bruno Banani
, who had changed his name in a marketing gimmick to match that of German brand
Bruno Banani
. In his event, the
men's singles
, he came in 32nd place out of 39 competitors.
Background
[
edit
]
The Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee was recognized by the
International Olympic Committee
on 1 January 1984.
[1]
The Kingdom made its Olympic debut at the
1984 Summer Olympics
, and has appeared at every
Summer Olympic Games
since then.
[2]
These Sochi Olympics were the Kingdom's debut at the
Winter Olympic Games
.
[3]
The 2014 Winter Olympics were held from 7?23 February 2014; a total of 2,780 athletes representing 88
National Olympic Committees
took part.
[4]
Bruno Banani
, a
luger
, was the only athlete Tonga sent to Sochi.
[5]
Banani was selected as the flag bearer for both the
opening ceremony
and
closing ceremony
.
[6]
[7]
Luge
[
edit
]
Tonga qualified for a place in the men's singles when
Bruno Banani
finished in the top 38 (with a maximum of three per nation qualifying) during an event in the
2013?14 Luge World Cup
.
[8]
He took up luge in 2009 having previously trained in
rugby
, and had failed to qualify for the
2010 Winter Olympics
by being a single point short after crashing in the final qualifying race.
[9]
Banani, whose birth name is Fuahea Semi, had attracted media attention by changing his name to that of a German lingerie company, as part of a marketing ploy.
[10]
[11]
His name change was criticised by
International Olympic Committee
Vice President
Thomas Bach
, who described it as being "in bad taste".
[12]
Banani was 26 years old at the time of the Sochi Olympics.
[13]
[14]
The
men's singles
competition was held on 8?9 February, with two runs being contested each day; the final mark of each athlete was the sum of all four of their runs.
[15]
On the first day, Banani's run times were 53.656 seconds
[16]
and 53.637 seconds.
[17]
Overnight, he was in 33rd place out of 39 competitors, and three seconds behind the leader.
[18]
On the second day, he posted run times of 53.162 seconds
[19]
and 53.221 seconds for his fourth and final run.
[20]
Banani finished 32nd out of 39 competitors, with a combined time of 3 minutes and 33.676 seconds.
[15]
Felix Loch
of
Germany
won the gold medal with a total time of 3 minutes and 27.526 seconds,
[21]
the silver medal was taken by
Albert Demchenko
of
Russia
, and the bronze medal was earned by
Armin Zoggeler
of
Italy
.
[22]
Athlete
|
Event
|
Run 1
|
Run 2
|
Run 3
|
Run 4
|
Total
|
Time
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Rank
|
Bruno Banani
|
Men's singles
|
53.656
|
34
|
53.637
|
31
|
53.162
|
30
|
53.221
|
33
|
3:33.676
|
32
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Tonga ? National Olympic Committee (NOC)"
.
International Olympic Committee
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Tonga"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
Nee, Nicole (6 December 2016).
"Tonga's Rio flag-bearer aims for 2018 Winter Games"
.
Reuters
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Sochi Olympics ? 2014 Winter Games in Russia results & videos"
.
International Olympic Committee
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Tonga at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony ? Flagbearers"
(PDF)
.
International Olympic Committee
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 23 March 2018
. Retrieved
9 July
2018
.
- ^
"Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony ? Flagbearers"
(PDF)
.
International Olympic Committee
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 23 March 2018
. Retrieved
9 July
2018
.
- ^
Pearlman, Jonathan (19 December 2013).
"Tongan rugby player qualifies for Winter Olympics as luge racer"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
Drehs, Wayne (9 February 2014).
"2014 Sochi Olympics ? Bruno Banani is part athlete, part gimmick"
.
ESPN.com
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Tongan rugby player earns Winter Olympics spot"
,
Stuff.co.nz
, 20 December 2013
- ^
"Luge ‘hoaxster’ name change now legal, just wants to race for Tonga at Sochi Olympics"
Archived
2018-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Vancouver Sun
, 1 February 2013
- ^
"Luge-Tongan changes name to brand in bid for Olympic glory"
, Reuters, 11 February 2012
- ^
"Bruno Banani Bio, Stats, and Results"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Bruno BANANI ? Olympic Luge ? Tonga"
.
International Olympic Committee
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
a
b
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles Run 1"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles Run 2"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles Runs 1?2"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles Run 3"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games: Men's Singles Run 4"
. Sports Reference. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Luge ? Men's Singles ? Final Results"
(PDF)
.
International Luge Federation
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
- ^
"Sochi 2014 Singles men ? Olympic Luge"
.
International Olympic Committee
. Retrieved
24 October
2018
.
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