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Culture > News

Tonga’s Flag Bearer is Back!

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.

Everyone on the internet at this point probably knows about the Tonga flag bearer for Summer Olympics, Pita Taufatofua, and his shirtless walk during the opening ceremonies two years ago. His pictures blew up on the internet and even became a lasting meme as people admired and joked about him online.

 

 

            But he didn’t just do it once. This year Pita again qualified for the Olympics, and impressive feat for anyone, but especially since the two sports he participates in are so wildly different – Taekwondo and cross-country skiing, which he took up in 2016.

            When he qualified for the Winter Olympics, he became Tonga’s first athlete to compete in both variations of the games and the first cross-country skier to come from the Polynesian archipelago.

            He, along with two other skiers from Tonga, Kasete Naufahu Skeen and Makeleta Piukala Stephan, have been tearing up the slopes this Olympics – writing this now, none of them have received a medal yet, but only one of the events has finished so far… keep watching the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang for updates on the team!

           

Sarah is a freshman studying Theatrical Design and Production at Carnegie Mellon University. One day she hopes to design costumes for Star Wars and Marvel films or television programs, but for now you can find her in her free time hanging out in her dorm drawing or watching TV, trying out a new mug cake recipe, or reading her latest National Geographic issue. You can follow her on Instagram at @theocqueen to see all her latest doodles and sketches.
I'm a lover of writing, art and music. I'm always down for a chat, and love listening to people tell their stories.