Bruno Banani (luge rider)

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Bruno Banani Luge
Full name Fuahea Semi
nation TongaTonga Tonga
birthday 4th December 1987
place of birth Angaha , 'Eua , Tonga
size 179 cm
Weight 83 kg
job Computer science student
Career
discipline Single seater
Trainer Isabel Barschinski
National squad since 2009
status active
Medal table
America-Pacific Championships 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
America-Pacific ChampionshipsTemplate: medals_winter sports / maintenance / unrecognized
bronze 2011 Calgary singles
Placements in the Luge World Cup
 Debut in the World Cup November 19, 2009
 Overall World Cup ES 34th ( 2011/12 )
last change: August 19, 2013

Bruno Banani (* 4. December 1987 in Angaha , 'Eua as Fuahea Semi ) is a Tongan luger who own the national team, which was founded in 2009 Luge Association of the Kingdom of Tonga forms.

Career

In November 2008, the winter sports enthusiast sister of King George Tupou V and acquaintance of the Monegasque prince and bobsleigh pilot Albert II , Princess Sālote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita , invited to a casting at the royal palace in Nukuʻalofa . The aim of the week-long training camp was to find a suitable candidate for participation in the 2010 Winter Olympics . After several tests, in which the applicants had to prove not only courage but also strength, athleticism and dexterity, and the final "summer slide", the 21-year-old computer science student Fuahea Semi was determined as the winner and the 18-year-old soldier Taniela TUFa as the runner-up in the casting.

The Samoa Observer had just as Radio Australia in December 2008, referring to the online magazine Matangi Tonga reported Fuahea Semi and Taniela tufuga as Casting winner; German-speaking media and the International Luge Federation (FIL) have been reporting on Bruno Banani, the son of a teacher, since November 2009.

At the end of January 2012, Der Spiegel published a report according to which the luge rider previously known as Bruno Banani was born in 1987 under the name Fuahea Semi as the son of a simple Tongan family. In fact, the advertising agency makai Europe was involved in the casting at the end of 2008. To improve the marketing of Semis, the agency's managing director proposed a change of name, which was concluded after six months of negotiations with the issue of a new passport and a change in the birth certificate . The Chemnitz fashion company Bruno Banani actually took the luge, who "happened" to bear the name of the company, under contract and stated in January 2012 after the story was discovered that it would of course continue to support Bruno Banani alias Fuahea Semi.

After the casting, led by the former luge athlete Isabel Barschinski , the Bobsleigh and Sled Association for Germany (BSD) took over a partnership for Banani from the 2010/11 season . From now on he trained and traveled with the German national team both in the summer months and during the current winter season.

Banani made his international debut at the start of the 2009/10 season in Calgary in the Luge World Cup and finished 56th. Apart from the last race in Cesana Pariol , he started in seven of the eight races of the season. In Koenigssee he did not reach the goal, in the other six races he won one World Cup point each, although he could not qualify for the actual World Cup race via the Nations Cup. The best result of the season was the 50th place in Lillehammer and Winterberg . With six points, he finished 54th in the overall World Cup ranking. Banani narrowly missed the desired participation in the Olympic Games because he fell in the decisive race and had to be hospitalized with a concussion.

Also in the 2010/11 season he took part in the World Cup from the start. With 42nd places in Igls and Winterberg, he improved his best placings, but was still unable to qualify for the final World Cup races. At the Luge World Championships 2011 in Cesana Banani finished 36th. In the overall ranking he was 47th After the season he took part in the fun event Wok World Cup 2011. He was also a guest on stern TV . The 2011/12 season got off to a brilliant start for the luge rider: on December 15, 2011, he managed to qualify for a World Cup race for the first time in Calgary, where he finished 26th. Bruno Banani won the bronze medal for his home country Tonga in Canada as part of the 1st American Pacific Championchips , which was held as a “race-in-race” . At the Luge World Championships 2012 in Altenberg , he was 36. At the end of the season, three World Cup participations (Calgary, St. Moritz, Sigulda) and a 34th place in the overall standings to book.

The 2012/13 season was characterized by long-term Olympic preparation. Bruno Banani has been training with parts of the German national team at the base in Oberwiesenthal since June. The highlight of winter was the 2010 World Championships on the Olympic track in Whistler . With a finishing time of 49.026 s, he missed participation in the second race by 0.061 s and thus finished 28th. Banani took part in eight of nine competitions and ended the season with two World Cup qualifications (Königsee, Oberhof) and a 39th place overall.

On December 24, 2013, the International Luge Federation (FIL) announced that Banani had qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , which was held in Park City . After four runs on February 8th and 9th, Banani was in 32nd place 6.150 seconds behind the Olympic champion Felix Loch and was able to leave seven starters behind him.

Results

season Nations Cup World cup World championships Olympic games
2009/10 51. 0(13 points) 54. 0(6 points) - not qualified
2010/11 35. 0(89 points) 47. (19 points) 36th place -
2011/12 26. (151 points) 34. (56 points) 34th place -
2012/13 25. (144 points) 39. (43 points) 28th place -
2013/14 37. 0(87 points) 47. (24 points) - 32nd place

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FIL News: Issue 1/2009 - No. 32: August 2009 ( German , PDF; 2.4 MB) In: fil-luge.org . 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ Even cool runnings as Tonga take up luge ( English ) in: smh.com.au . November 21, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Bruno Banani from Tonga tobogganing at the World Cup ( German ) In: derwesten.de . January 9, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b Two Tongans selected to train for winter olympics luge event ( English ) In: samoaobserver.ws . December 15, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ As with "Cool Runnings": Tonga will soon be sledding! ( German ) In: express.de . June 22, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ Brèves du Pacifique - 17/12/2008 ( French ) In: 24hdanslepacifique.com . December 17, 2008. Archived from the original on January 20, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 30, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 24hdanslepacifique.com
  7. ↑ Bruno Banani: Cool Runnings II ( German ) In: tagesspiegel.de . November 28, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  8. ↑ Tobogganing in Tonga ( German ) In: berliner-zeitung.de . November 28, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  9. ↑ New attempt in winter 2010/11: No happy ending for Bruno Banani from Tonga ( German ) In: fil-luge.com . February 3, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  10. ↑ Bruno Banani lunges for Tonga in the ice channel ( German ) In: welt.de . January 8, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  11. ↑ Bruno Banani wins bronze medal ( German ) In: rp-online.de . December 18, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Olympia: Tonga in tobogganing" sport.orf.at.
  13. ↑ Final Results Sochi 2014 , in: fil.luge , accessed on February 11, 2014 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Banani, Bruno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Semi, Fuahea (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tongan luge rider
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Angaha , 'Eua , Tonga