Tweet storm of appreciation for Tongan olympians [1]
Saturday, July 24, 2021 - 12:34. Updated on Saturday, July 24, 2021 - 12:52.
By Matangi Tonga reporters.
Tonga's internet sensation Pita Taufatofua @pitaTofua today congratulated Tonga's flag bearer Malia Paseka. “So proud to walk along side our first ever female taekwondo Olympian!” he tweeted this morning after the opening ceremony of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo last night, Tonga time.
“She did an amazing job leading the way for more participation of females and youth in sport in Tonga,” Pita said, amid a tweet storm of appreciation for his much anticipated shirtless appearance in the Olympic athletes parade.
UNICEF Pacific thanked Pita for being an inspiration to the children ofthe Pacific, tweeting: “We wish our Ambassador @pitaTofua from Tonga, all the very best for #Tokyo2020.”
#Tokyo2020 tweeted: “He's here!”
“It's not the Olympics until Pita Lolo comes thru.. malie Tonga,” tweeted Darren Young.
“Olympics Opening Ceremony won't be complete without Tonga and its unique flag bearer!” tweeted @chevalierkun
“Thank you Pita Taufatofua, Thank you Tonga...” tweeted Mr Adam R.
“Tonga wins the flagbearer competition,” said Mark Lowen.
Bearded Donkey shouted: “Tonga has won the Olympics. We can all go home now.”
“Yes we will be supporting Tonga at the Olympics this year, no further questions please,” said @MrDrewy.
“Thank you, flag-bearer from Tonga, for making watching the #OpeningCeremony worth it,” said Beth7.
“...They win.” said Matthew Mohan.
“Hot Tongan is back,” shouted Yahoo Sports.
“The world is in balance again. Tonga oiled hot man is back in #Tokyo2020,” tweeted Rodrigo Milheirāo.
And then there were very many admirers from around the world:
The incredible story of Pita Taufatofua [2] and his journey to his first Olympics was told by the British newspaper The Guardian in January 2019, after his first shirtless appearance at the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony became an international sensation.The article noted “By the end of the week there would be 230 million Google searches for ‘where is Tonga?”