| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Fuahea Semi | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Tongan | ||||||||||||||
| Born | December 4, 1987 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Tonga | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Luge | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bruno Banani (born Fuahea Semi; 4 December 1987) [1] is a Tongan luger who adopted his current name as part of a marketing ploy.
A 21-year-old computer science student, he was selected by his country to attempt to qualify for the luge events at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as the first ever Tongan to participate in the Winter Olympic Games. Along with Taniela Tufunga, a young recruit in the Tonga Defence Service who was his training partner and potential replacement, he travelled to Germany for training. [2] [3] He ultimately failed to qualify for the Games. [4] He did, however, qualify to take part in the FIL World Luge Championships 2011 (which took place in January), where he finished 36th (last but one), eliminated after the first run with a time of 56.698. [5]
In the meantime, he had been sponsored by a marketing firm, Makai, which presented him to the public under the name "Bruno Banani" – the name of a German underwear firm. He entered into an "endorsement deal" with the latter, "promoting [its] new line dubbed Coconut Power", which the company said "was inspired by him, attributing his sporting prowess to the quality of the coconuts he consumes". [6] To enhance his appeal, he was presented as the son of a coconut farmer, although his father in reality was a cassava farmer. Makai reportedly obtained a passport for Semi under this new name, and he was universally referred to in the media, as well as by the International Luge Federation and the Chinese Olympic Committee, as "Banani". [3] [4] [7] German media were reportedly "fascinated" by this Tongan luger bearing such a coincidental name; [8] ZDF reportedly "suggested that the touching, exotic story of the luger from the South Sea bore similarities to that of the Jamaican bobsled team" at the 1988 Winter Olympics. [9] Before this transformation, some media had referred to Semi by his true name, including the Samoa Observer [2] and Radio Australia, [10] based on an article in Matangi Tonga. In December 2011, the Vancouver Sun referred to him as Banani, adding that when he had first arrived in Germany he had been "going by his given name Fuahea Semi": [6]
"[H]e apparently changed his name, although he denies it. During a chance encounter in Whistler Village on Thursday, he insisted Bruno Banani is on his passport and birth certificate, neither of which he had with him. However, Matangi Tongo [ sic ] online clearly ran a photo of him as Fuahea Semi when he was recruited back in December 2008."
That same month, in December 2011, Semi (under the name Banani) won a bronze medal at the American-Pacific Championships in Calgary. [11] [12] He also qualified for the FIL World Luge Championships 2012, by finishing eighteenth in the qualifiers. [9] [13] The World Championships took place in February; Semi (under the name Banani) finished 34th out of 37, with a time of 56.326 in his single run. [14] Simultaneously, he was continuing to train with the German luge team, including three time Olympic gold medallist Georg Hackl and Olympic silver medallist David Möller, with an aim to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics. [6] [15]
The Vancouver Sun article on his name change had apparently gone unnoticed, but the following month, in January 2012, the German magazine Der Spiegel uncovered anew and reported on the name change which had taken place as a marketing ploy. This time, the revelation was echoed in other media articles (some of which contained errors themselves, such as The Daily Telegraph referring to Semi's home country as the "island of Tonga"). [16] [17] [18] Mid-February, shortly before the beginning of the World Luge Championships, Semi continued to be sponsored by his "namesake" company, which had devoted a webpage to him. [19] [20]
International Olympic Committee Vice President Thomas Bach responded by saying the name change was "in bad taste", a "perverse marketing idea". He confirmed, however, that if Semi qualified for the 2014 Olympics and if his passport did indeed bear the name "Bruno Banani", the IOC would be unable to prevent him from competing under that name. [21] Subsequently, Semi had his name legally changed to "Bruno Banani". [22]
In December 2013, Semi qualified for the luge event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, becoming the first ever Tongan scheduled to compete in Winter Olympic Games. [23] He competed in the men's singles, under the name Banani, and finished thirty-second out of thirty-nine, with a combined time of 3:33.676, six seconds behind gold medal winner Felix Loch. His fastest run was in 53.162 seconds. [24]
| Athlete | Event | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | ||
| Bruno Banani | Men's singles | 53.656 | 34 | 53.637 | 31 | 53.162 | 30 | 53.221 | 33 | 3:33.676 | 32 |
In 2017, Banani was again attempting to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics, [25] but he was unsuccessful.
Georg Hackl, often named Hackl Schorsch, is a German former luger who was three time Olympic and World Champion. He is known affectionately as Hackl-Schorsch or as the Speeding Weißwurst, a reference to what he looks like in his white bodysuit coming down the luge at fast speeds.
Andreas Linger is an Austrian former luger who competed internationally since 2000. He and his younger brother Wolfgang began luging at a very young age, and did their first doubles run when they were 14. Linger has won five medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with three golds and two bronzes. He also earned seven medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with a gold, three silvers, and three bronzes. The Lingers were overall Luge World Cup men's doubles champions in 2011-12 and scored 15 World Cup race victories. They were two time Olympic champions in the men's doubles event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They won in 2006 despite Wolfgang having broken his leg in a luge crash the previous year. In 2010, they successfully defended their gold medal against another team of brothers, Andris and Juris Šics of Latvia.
Wolfgang Linger is an Austrian former luger who competed internationally since 2000. As young children, he and his older brother Andreas learned to luge on a former Olympic luge track, and at age 14 began competing as a doubles team for the first time. Linger has won five medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with three golds and two bronzes. He also earned seven medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with a gold, three silvers, and three bronzes. The Lingers were overall Luge World Cup men's doubles champions in 2011-12 and scored 15 World Cup race victories. In 2005, he broke his leg in a crash, but the next year at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy won the gold medal in doubles luge. He repeated this feat at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, defeating another team of brothers, Andris and Juris Šics of Latvia.
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Josef Feistmantl was an Austrian luger who competed from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He competed at three Olympic Games.
Hans Brandner is a German former luger who competed for West Germany from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. Competing in three Winter Olympics, He won the silver medal in the men's doubles event at Innsbruck in 1976.
David Möller is a German former luger who competed from 2001 to 2014. He won six medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with four golds, one silver, and one bronze
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Tonga has competed in eight editions of the Olympic Summer Games and two of the Olympic Winter Games. It became the smallest independent nation to win an Olympic medal in the Summer games when Super Heavyweight Boxer Paea Wolfgramm earned silver in the 1996 Super heavyweight 91 kg championships in Atlanta.
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