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Home > Tongan team snow-proofed for Sochi opening march

Tongan team snow-proofed for Sochi opening march [1]

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Thursday, February 6, 2014 - 19:40

Tonga's team, supporting its first winter Olympian Luger Bruno Banani, will march on Friday night in the opening ceremony of the  2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games (or the 22nd Winter Olympics) at 8:00pm in Sochi, Russia, (Tongan time 5:14am -8:14am Saturday February 8) at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

The Tongan luger, Bruno, will compete in Luge at the Sanki Sliding Centre, where the Men's Singles are scheduled to start on Tongan time at 3:30am on Sunday February 9. The events schedule and relative times for all countries can be seen on the countdown at Sochi All Events [2]. The athletes are listed at Athletes [3], (but no photo of Bruno).

The Sochi Olympics run from February 7-23, 2014, and its opening and closing ceremonies, and medal presentations will be broadcast to billions of television viewers all over the world.

A German fashion designer Willy Bogner has gifted Tonga's first winter olympian and team with flamboyant snow proof uniforms due to a special connection with Tonga and the late King George Tupou V. The outfits were launched at the ISPO, the world’s largest Winter’s Sports Fair on February 3.

From left, Louise Waterhouse, Willy Bogner, Sonia Bogner and Guenter Raedler.

From left, Louise Waterhouse, Willy Bogner, Sonia Bogner and Guenter Raedler. 

Trained

"Bruno trained a few-years with the German team and now he is marching with officials for Tonga and I am allowed to march with them as a team attaché. He had to be in the top 35 in the world and he achieved that," Bogner told a German newspaper.

He said they have ensured team Tonga looks great.

Bogner, a former alpine ski racer had competed for Germany at the age of 18 during the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley.

Tonga Winter Olympics Team

Chef de Mission - Mathias Ihle
Coach - Isabel Barschinski
Admin Personnel - Leafa Wawryk
Olympic Attache - Willy Bogner
Physio - Bernd Rossmann

TASA representatives under IOC invitation

President - Lady Robyn Tu'ivakano
President Secretary-General - Takitoa Taumoepeau

Tonga Luge representatives (at their own cost)

Ngalu Fusimalohi
Manu Mataele
Atela Semi (Bruno's sister)

Luge [4]
Tonga [5]
Tongans [6]
Bruno Banani [7]
Willy Bogner [8]
2014 Winter Olympics [9]
Tonga Olympics Team [10]
Sochi [11]
Sports [12]

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Source URL:https://matangitonga.to/2014/02/06/tongan-team-snow-proofed-sochi-opening-march

Links
[1] https://matangitonga.to/2014/02/06/tongan-team-snow-proofed-sochi-opening-march [2] http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/sochi [3] http://www.sochi2014.com/en/luge-athletes [4] https://matangitonga.to/tag/luge?page=1 [5] https://matangitonga.to/tag/tonga?page=1 [6] https://matangitonga.to/tag/tongans?page=1 [7] https://matangitonga.to/tag/bruno-banani?page=1 [8] https://matangitonga.to/tag/willy-bogner?page=1 [9] https://matangitonga.to/tag/2014-winter-olympics?page=1 [10] https://matangitonga.to/tag/tonga-olympics-team?page=1 [11] https://matangitonga.to/tag/sochi?page=1 [12] https://matangitonga.to/topic/sports?page=1