The New Zealand-born Tongan swimmer Amini Tuitavake Britteon Fonua is currently training in San Francisco in preparation for the Oceania Swimming Competitions to be held in Fiji in June.
He will compete at the Rio Olympic qualifier with swimmers from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.
“This is a qualifying time for the Olympics. There are other Tongan swimmers who also want to go to Rio and our selection panel will pick the best swimmers to go. The selection panel is independent and our policy is that no parent who has an athlete trying to be selected can sit in the panel”, his father Sione Fonua said.
ʻAmini won three gold medals for Tonga in 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
ʻAmini was trained by Jon Winter from New Zealand before he competed in the Olympic 2012. He could not make it to the semi final and he was Tonga’s flag-bearer.
He is the only Tongan athlete in history to ever hold dual Oceania and Pacific Games titles.
