01:41Germany: Tonga’s only Winter Olympic hopeful – Bruno 'Cool Runnings' Banani
Germany: Tonga’s only Winter Olympic hopeful – Bruno 'Cool Runnings' Banani
Tonga’s first ever representative at a Winter Olympic Games, Luge athlete Bruno Banani, underwent training at the Koenigssee training facilities ahead of the upcoming Sochi games.
The former IT student and rugby player arrived in Germany in 2009 after beating hundreds of candidates to fulfil the Tongan princess’ request that a national of the Pacific nation compete in a winter sport. Banani asserted his awareness of the magnitude of his qualification, remarking: “I think everyone is happy, like the princess. It's her dream to send someone from her country to a winter sport."
Banani also welcomed comparisons to Jamaica’s national bobsleigh team, whose story was characterised in the 1993 film, Cool Runnings: "Being compared to the Jamaican bobsled team … I didn't know the story before. I knew it the first time that I got here in Germany and I started doing luge. I really like the story, I see myself almost the same, coming from a country without snow and all this stuff and try to qualify for the Olympics. Now I qualified, I think it's almost just the same story."
The 2014 Winter Olympic games will start on February 7 and run until February 23.
01:41Germany: Tonga’s only Winter Olympic hopeful – Bruno 'Cool Runnings' Banani
Tonga’s first ever representative at a Winter Olympic Games, Luge athlete Bruno Banani, underwent training at the Koenigssee training facilities ahead of the upcoming Sochi games.
The former IT student and rugby player arrived in Germany in 2009 after beating hundreds of candidates to fulfil the Tongan princess’ request that a national of the Pacific nation compete in a winter sport. Banani asserted his awareness of the magnitude of his qualification, remarking: “I think everyone is happy, like the princess. It's her dream to send someone from her country to a winter sport."
Banani also welcomed comparisons to Jamaica’s national bobsleigh team, whose story was characterised in the 1993 film, Cool Runnings: "Being compared to the Jamaican bobsled team … I didn't know the story before. I knew it the first time that I got here in Germany and I started doing luge. I really like the story, I see myself almost the same, coming from a country without snow and all this stuff and try to qualify for the Olympics. Now I qualified, I think it's almost just the same story."
The 2014 Winter Olympic games will start on February 7 and run until February 23.