Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

has competed in eight editions of the

Olympic Summer Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

and two of the

Olympic Winter Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) 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 he ...

. It became the smallest independent nation to win an Olympic medal in the Summer games when Super Heavyweight Boxer

Paea Wolfgramm Paea Wolfgramm (born December 1, 1969) is a Tongan retired boxer. Nicknamed "The Tongan Warrior", Wolfgramm won the Super Heavyweight silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making him the first athlete from Tonga to win an Olympic medal. P ...

earned silver in the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Super heavyweight 91 kg championships in Atlanta. Tonga sought to enter a delegation for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, which would have been the country's first participation in the Winter Games. The Tonga Amateur Sports Association (TASA) announced that it intended to send one athlete to compete in the

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

event. In December 2008, two male athletes (

Fuahea Semi Bruno Banani (born Fuahea Semi; 4 December 1987) is a Tongan luger who adopted his current name as part of a marketing ploy. Biography A 21-year-old computer science student, he was selected by his country to attempt to qualify for the luge even ...

and Taniela Tufunga) were selected to travel to Germany for training, although only one of them would compete at the Olympics. Semi was eventually selected as Tonga's candidate to compete in the Games, and was presented by his German sponsors under a new name, "Bruno Banani". He failed to qualify, however, crashing in the final round of qualifications and ending the Kingdom's hopes of competing at the 2010 Games. Banani qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, becoming the first Tongan athlete to compete at the Winter Games."Men's Luge results, 2014 Olympic Games", February 8, 2014
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Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by Winter Games

Medals by sport

List of medalists

References

External links

* * * {{Nations at the Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...