American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

sent a delegation to compete at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

from February 12–27, 1994. This was the territory's first, and until the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

, only Winter Olympics they have competed in. The delegation consisted of two athletes, Faauuga Muagututia and Brad Kiltz, who competed in the two-man bobsleigh event where they finished 39th.

Background

The American Samoa National Olympic Committee was recognized by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

on January 1, 1987, and the territory made its Olympic debut the next year at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...

in South Korea. They have competed in every Summer Olympics since, but have only participated in the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

this once, in 1994 in Lillehammer. For the 1994 Winter Olympics, the territory's delegation consisted of one two-man bobsleigh team. Faauuga Muagututia was chosen as the flag bearer for the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.

Bobsleigh

Brad Kiltz, who was 36 years old at the time of the Games, is a native of

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...

, able to compete for American Samoa because the American territory has the same nationality as the United States. Faauuga Muagututia, who was 35 years old at the time of the Games, is a native of American Samoa. Muagututia, as the driver, was the only one required to be from American Samoa. At the time of the Games, Muagututia was serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as a

SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

, while Kiltz was working as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

. The two-man bobsleigh event was held in four runs over two days, on February 19–20, 1994. Final standings were based on the sum of all four runs for each team. On the 19th, in runs 1 and 2, they posted a time of 55.57 seconds and 55.25 seconds, respectively. At the end of the first day, they were ranked 42nd out of 43 sleds. On the second day, they posted run times of 55.06 and 55.16 seconds. Their faster times on the second day allowed them to finish with a time of 3 minutes and 41.04 seconds, which placed them 39th out of 42 sleds which completed all four runs.

References

{{Nations at the 1994 Winter Olympics Nations at the 1994 Winter Olympics

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1994 in American Samoan sports

Background

Competitors

Bobsleigh

See also

References