Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga (born 12 May 1991) is a Samoan sportsman who has represented his country in taekwondo [1] and rugby union. He competed in the +80 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics; he was defeated by Anthony Obame in the preliminary round and was eliminated by Robelis Despaigne in the repechage contest.[2]
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 12 May 1991 Faga'alu, American Samoa | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) (2012) | |||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 90 kg (200 lb) (2012) | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Samoa | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Taekwondo | |||||||||||||||||
| Event | +80 kg | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 14 August 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union
edit| Occupation(s) | Rugby union player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In December 2012, just four months after London 2012, Thomsen announced he had quit taekwondo due to false promises, empty words and the lack of money.[3] He said he wanted to re-purpose his talents at rugby union after representing Manu Samoa in age grade rugby. In February 2013, he was part of the Samoa A squad in the Pacific Rugby Cup, in which Samoa A came runners up to Fiji Warriors.[4] Just two years after London 2012, Thomsen was then named in the Samoan national rugby union team for their 2014 mid-year tests and 2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup.[5]
In a return to taekwondo for the Pacific Games held in Apia in 2019, Thomsen won a silver medal in a closely contested bout against Australia's Alan Salek in the +87 kg division.[6] He had won a gold medal at the games eight years earlier in Nouméa.
References
edit- ^ "Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga". 2012 Summer Olympics official website. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ "Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga – Events and Results". 2012 Summer Olympics official website. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ WHY I’VE QUIT: KAINO
- ^ Kaino pursues blue dream
- ^ Sport: Manu Samoa names 47-strong squad
- ^ "Results". Inside the Games. 16 July 2019. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
External links
edit- Kaino Thomsen at TaekwondoData.com
- Kaino Thomsen at Olympics.com
- Kaino Thomsen at Olympedia
- Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga profile at BBC Sport
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