Submitted by George Piero Ferzoco:
Tongan luger Bruno Banani exposed as a German marketing hoax
by Helen Pidd in Berlin
The Guardian
31 January 2012
Story of winter Olympics hopeful who bore same name as German underwear firm too good to be true
They say if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. So when news surfaced in Germany of a promising young luger from the tropical islands of Tonga who bore the same name as a racy German underwear firm with a dream of sledding to victory at the Olympics, scepticism might well have been warranted.
But the story was too delicious. Bruno Banani, 24, ostensibly the son of a coconut farmer from the South Pacific nation, was aiming to be Tonga’s first ever competitor at a winter Olympic games. In doing so, went the story, he was fulfilling the wish of the Tongan Princess Royal, Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu Tuita, whose life’s ambition was to see a citizen from her sun-drenched isles triumph among the ice and snow of the world’s premier cold weather sporting contest.
When Banani, whose catchphrase was “coconut powered”, was unveiled to the German media, he was naturally sponsored by Bruno Banani, a purveyor of knickers and bras from the east German city of Chemnitz.
But he seemed legit. After all, he had been invited to train with the world-beating German luge team. Continue reading “Yes, We Have No Banani”