‘Sufficient oil to fry a turkey dinner!’ Taekwondo fighter Pita Taufatofua, generally known as the ‘Topless Tongan’, goes viral AGAIN as he walks out on the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Tokyo with out a shirt
Tonga could have simply the six athletes competing on the Olympics in Tokyo however that did not cease them stealing the present within the Opening Ceremony.
Pita Taufatofua – shirtless, ripped and apparently saturated in child oil – set social media ablaze as he waved his nation’s flag and led the group out into the Japan Nationwide Stadium.
The 37-year-old, who can be competing within the taekwondo in Tokyo, is participating in his third Olympics.
Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua has as soon as once more precipitated a sensation after main out his nation’s athletes on the Olympic Opening Ceremony whereas shirtless and smothered in child oil
The 37-year-old taekwondo fighter went viral as he emerged as Tonga’s flag bearer
He went viral when he additionally appeared shirtless on the Opening Ceremony for the 2016 Rio Video games and he did likewise on the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the place he represented Tonga in cross-country snowboarding.
Followers outdated and new of Taufatofua took to Twitter to specific their appreciation with tens of millions watching Friday’s Ceremony proper around the globe.
‘There’s sufficient oil on the Tonga flag bearer to fry a turkey dinner and I adore it. Is that this man single? Oh my God,’ wrote one.
‘Tonga’s flag bearer is heating up the web!’ stated one other.
‘Tonga’s flag bearer wins the night for me’ added one other tweeter.
There have been loads of approving feedback on Twitter because the ‘Topless Tongan’ appeared
Taufatofua was born in Brisbane, Australia however was raised alongside along with his six siblings in a one-bedroom home in Tonga, which his household misplaced in a tropical storm.
He now splits his time between the Pacific island and Brisbane, works as a Unicef ambassador, helps homelessness charities and raised consciousness in regards to the impacts of world warming.
Tonga is the second almost definitely nation on the planet to be hit by a pure catastrophe – behind fellow Pacific island Vanuatu – in line with the 2018 World Threat Index.
Taufatofua additionally has an engineering diploma and, you will not be stunned to be taught, has been modelling because the age of 18.
Taufatofua wears the normal Tongan ta’ovala on the Rio Closing Ceremony in 2016
Defying freezing temperatures, he repeated the feat on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea
He shot to worldwide prominence on the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Rio when, ignoring pleas from officers, he stripped down from the official swimsuit and walked out in nothing greater than a ta’ovala [a Tongan mat wrapped around the waist].
‘I simply wished to symbolize my nation’s tradition and heritage,’ he told the BBC in 2019. ‘I had no thought it could have that impression.’
As the tv cameras targeted on the ‘Topless Tongan’ it grew to become obvious he wasn’t sweating as first thought however had utilized copious quantities of oil to his torso and Taufatofua went viral.
Taufatofua (proper) takes on Iran’s Sajjad Mardani within the taekwondo competitors again in 2016
The 37-year-old has an engineering diploma and works as an envoy for Unicef
His taekwondo competitors wasn’t as profitable, nonetheless, as he was eradicated in his first bout.
In 2018, he grew to become solely the second Tongan to take part within the Winter Olympics, having achieved the qualifying time in cross-country snowboarding.
Regardless of temperatures beneath freezing on the Opening Ceremony, he as soon as once more walked out shirtless earlier than ending 114th out of 119 rivals within the 15km freestyle race.
Initially, Taufatofua meant to come back to the delayed 2020 Video games to compete in canoeing however he did not qualify. As a substitute he returned to taekwondo to win his place on the Video games.
It got here because the Covid-delayed 2020 Olympics were officially opened with a symbolic show of hope and tenacity within the face of adversity on the Opening Ceremony.
There have been simply 950 VIPs and world leaders contained in the 68,000-seat predominant area in Tokyo to look at the show of sunshine and color amid rising case totals within the nation which pressured organisers to ban crowds.
Stream each unmissable second of Olympic Video games Tokyo 2020 stay on discovery+, The Streaming Residence of the Olympics.
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