A Tongan in the Winter Olympics - the luge

from w

We've been watching the Winter Olympics this afternoon and in the luge event were surprised to see a young Tongan so I wanted to check out his story on the web.

His name is Semi but in a marketing ploy changed it to a German underwear company!  Here's a little youtube video about his story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStZYs1ejeg

Tonga’s Bruno Banani overcame his four-year Olympic heartbreak to create history in the first heat of the luge men’s single runs.

Denied a spot in Vancouver 2010 when he crashed in qualifying, Banani became the first athlete from Tonga and the first luger from a Pacific island nation to participate in the Winter Games.

The 26-year-old achieved a time of 53.656 seconds in his first of four runs, putting him in 34th place out of 39 competitors, 1.486 seconds behind leader Albert Demchenko of Russia.

The man with “coconut powered underpants” has attracted worldwide acclaim after changing his name from Fuahea Semi to the German underwear manufacturer as part of a marketing campaign.