Tongan flag-bearer Pita Taufatofua beforehand captured the hearts of followers watching the Summer season and Winter Olympics, however he wasn’t on the Beijing Video games’ opening ceremony on Friday.
Taufatofua has been serving to his residence nation recuperate from the devastating volcano and tsunami disasters that plagued the nation final month.
LIVE UPDATES: BEIJING OLYMPICS
Flag-bearers Malia Paseka and Pita Taufatofua of Workforce Tonga lead their workforce out in the course of the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games at Olympic Stadium on July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
(Jamie Squire/Getty Photographs)
“Three Olympics in a row I’ve been blessed with your whole kindness. The final two years, competitors and journey has been non-existent,” he wrote on Instagram this week. “Not every part is in our management. That stated I embrace each the great and the dangerous as a part of life, and I accomplish that with a smile. This time I cannot be sharing the Beijing Olympic Video games with you all. However I proceed with pleasure as I put together to assist all of the Olympians who’ve labored so arduous to symbolize their nations. They’re all flag bearers, all of them stand for that voice inside that calls us all to turn out to be our highest.
“Proper now I’ve one other activity that calls me, I need to reply. However make no mistake, my sword is sharp and my thoughts if prepared. I’m simply getting began. We’ve one thing up our sleeve, an concept, a feat, a dream. It lives subsequent the inconceivable, a spot that excites me. Thanks all for persevering with to share this quest. Your assist means every part. Someplace inside every one in all you there may be an Olympian….Paris ‘we’ are coming!”
Malia Paseka and Pita Taufatofua, of Tonga, carry their nation’s flag in the course of the opening ceremony within the Olympic Stadium on the 2020 Summer season Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
(Hannah McKay/Pool Photograph through AP)
Taufatofua competed in the previous couple of Summer season Olympics, together with final yr in Tokyo. He made historical past as Tonga’s first Winter Olympics athlete in 2018 when he certified for cross-country snowboarding.
For the reason that volcano eruption and subsequent tsunami, Taufatofua has been elevating cash for reduction. His efforts have raised greater than $800,000.
Flag-bearer Pita Taufatofua of Tonga leads the workforce in the course of the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Video games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on Feb. 9, 2018, in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.
(Jamie Squire/Getty Photographs)
As assist arrived to the island, Tonga was additionally hit with its first COVID an infection. The island is now in an open-ended lockdown in hopes of preserving the virus at bay.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
Supply: Fox Information
