- Tonga's flag bearer is skipping the Olympics to help his home nation recover from last month's tsunami.
- Pita Taufatofua has competed in the last three games and shared his news in a statement.
- He also launched a GoFundMe in the wake of the disaster and has raised over $800,000 as of the Opening Ceremony.
Tonga's famed flag bearer, who has represented the tiny pacific nation for the last three Olympics, said he passed on a chance to compete in Beijing to help his home country recover from last month's devastating tsunami.
"Not everything is in our control. That said I embrace both the good and the bad as part of life, and I do so with a smile," Pita Taufatofua shared on Twitter on Tuesday.
He added: "This time I will not be sharing the Beijing Olympic games with you all."
Taufatofua represented Tonga in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics as a taekwondo athlete, and in 2018 as a cross-country skier. He had not qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics but told the New York Times that he didn't try to qualify in order to focus his efforts on disaster relief after his homeland was struck by a tsunami.
There are "too many people who are hungry for me to not be focused there," he said.
The athlete told Olympics.com from Australia, where he has been training, that he has urged people to help the small island nation.
"I have to keep pushing. I have to keep doing interviews," he said in an interview on Thursday. "I have to keep reaching out to the world and working on a fundraiser. We're trying to do what we can do."
Taufatofua, who claimed fame by oiling himself up and wearing traditional Tongan dress for three opening ceremonies, has raised over $800,000 in relief funds for the country.
The tsunami devastated the island, destroying homes and buildings and killing at least three people, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
On a GoFundMe page, Taufatofua wrote that "priority for the funds will go towards those most in need, infrastructure and damage to schools, hospitals, etc."
The GoFundMe page also has photos with updates on Tonga's relief efforts — and a hint that Taufatofua will try to compete again.
"Paris 'we' are coming!" Taufatofua wrote in his statement, alluding to his participation in the 2024 Olympic Games.