Taufatofua: "We fought together, we finished together.” [1]
Monday, February 19, 2018 - 19:43. Updated on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 17:24.
With only three months of training, Pita Taufatofua finished his cross-country 15km race in 114th place out of 116 skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Pita and other skiers displayed the Olympic spirit at the end of the race when they greeted and carried the last placed skier - German Madrazo of Mexico, at the finish line.
Taufatofua finished ahead of two skiers – German Madrazo and Sebastian Uprimny of Colombia. Taufatofua was 2 - 3 minutes behind Keguyen Lam of Porutgal, Klaus Rodriguez of Ecuador and Samir Azzimani of Morrocco.
Taufatofua told the BBC following the race, "Everyone was at the front racing to come first, we were racing not to come last, but we'll have a good laugh over dinner."
"I'd rather be finishing towards the end of the pack with all my friends than in the middle by myself. We fought together, we finished together.”
Taufatofua’s result may have not been a sparkling gold medal, but it is yet another step forward for Tonga’s winter sport ambitions since Bruno Banani’s participation at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic in Russia.
The race was won by 31-year-old Dario Cologna of Switzerland who finished in a time of 33 minutes and 43 seconds.
Pita finished his race in a time of 56 minutes and 41 seconds.