What it means to tell an Olympic story

The contrasting cases of Pita Taufatofua and Shaun White show the allure — and hazard — of elevating athletes.

US snowboarder Shaun White and Tongan taekwondoka-turned-cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua.

I had to see the phenomenon for myself — Pita Taufatofua, the improbable Tongan double Olympian, Rio taekwondoka-turned-PyeongChang cross-country skier, shirtless flag bearer and unrivalled dreamboat heart-throb of The Wall Street Journal sports section.

I’ll assume you’ve read a thing or two about Pita. His journey from oil-lathered obscurity to international feel-good athlete has been endearingly followed across multiple continents by my Journal colleagues, Ben Cohen and Josh Robinson. Cohen and Robinson are the Woodward and Bernstein of Pita, culling hard facts from the caricature. I can’t wait to see who plays them in the inevitable film.

Alas, Pita now belongs to the world. That became clear upon Taufatofua’s arrival in South Korea, where he was swarmed by the international press. It was even clearer Wednesday, when Taufatofua spoke to a news conference hall usually reserved for gold-medal heavy hitters, like Lindsey Vonn.

This is the part where I remind you that, until a year or so ago, Pita had never skied. By his own admission, he is not very good at it. It is very possible he finishes last in his race, which happens Friday.

It doesn’t matter. Pita’s a star. He’s handsome, telegenic and speaks in the kind of dramatic quotes that sound crafted by a PR handler. And yet Pita doesn’t have a PR handler. His coach runs a home-decoration business.

Here’s Pita on his Olympic journey: “They’ve seen the oil, they’ve seen the guy waving the flag, but there was a lot of struggle.”

Here’s Pita on going shirtless in the cold: “If my ancestors can sail across the Pacific Ocean for 1,000 years, then I can walk through an opening ceremony without a shirt on for 25 minutes.”

Here’s Pita on his goal for Friday: “Finish before the lights turn off. Don’t ski into a tree.”

I mean, come on. Taufatofua is a walking Bud Greenspan documentary — a living embodiment what the Olympics think they are (a triumph of international spirit) as opposed to what they actually are (a wildly imperfect, oft-corrupted mega-spectacle). It’s no wonder Taufatofua’s got a fan in International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, who — according to Pita’s Instagram — pledged this week to help rebuild sports facilities in Tonga, which was just devastated by a cyclone.

It’s always tricky business, elevating athletes we hardly know — or anyone, for that matter. The media’s tendency is to sand off any edges, burnish a myth. Taufatofua’s saying the right things, however — and his story, as Cohen and Robinson thoroughly reported from Rio to Austria to PyeongChang, is genuinely astonishing.

What a contrast it was soon afterwards, when much of the same media descended on a news conference for Shaun White, the snowboarding superstar who earlier in the day had won the men’s halfpipe competition. It was White’s third gold medal in the sport, and he sealed it with a riveting final run in which he defied gravity and re-established himself, at 31, as his sport’s defining athlete.

But now the mood was different. Reports had been recirculating about a settlement White had made in 2017 with a former drummer in his band, Lena Zawaideh, who’d sued him for sexual harassment. America is amid a reckoning over sexual misconduct, and in the afterglow of White’s victory, the question was unavoidable: Was the media complicit in airbrushing another icon?

After some easy, early chitchat about his victory, a reporter from ABC News asked White about the lawsuit. White stiff-armed the question, flicking it away as “gossip.” That was a mistake. White tried to reboot hours later on the Today show, apologising for using the word “gossip” and describing himself as a “changed person.” Later, there was a new statement: “I regret my behaviour many years ago and am sorry that I made anyone — particularly someone I considered a friend — uncomfortable. I have grown and changed as a person, as we all grow and change, and am proud of who I am today.”

It could not have been a more inelegant landing for one of the most chronicled Olympians ever. Accustomed to easy adoration, it took several tries for White to get it even close to right. The anger has hardly ebbed. Zawaideh’s attorney, Lawrance Bohm, issued a statement condemning White’s “gossip” remark.

“No woman wants to be called a ‘gossip’ or a liar by the harasser,” Bohm said. “Minimising sexual harassment maximises the harm to Ms. Zawaideh. Hopefully, before our country declares someone ‘the best of the US,’ there will be investigation and due diligence.”

White, who competes in only one event, is done at these Games, but there will invariably be more questions as he returns home. If he expects another public coronation or easy media lap, he will be disappointed. These are different times, long overdue.

Pita Taufatofua, on the other hand, is just getting started. He’s not going to win a thing. He may even not finish before the lights turn off. It’s possible he skis into a tree. (Don’t ski into a tree, Pita!) He’s the new story here at these Olympics, and sometimes, a new story is enough.

The Wall Street Journal