Faauuga Muagututia

Faauuga "Tia" Muagututia (born May 13, 1958) is a former United States Navy SEAL and Winter Olympic competitor for American Samoa in the bobsleigh.

Personal life

Muagututia was born on May 13, 1958 in Pago Pago, American Samoa. He moved to Los Angeles aged 13 and attended Carson High School in California. Muagututia and his wife Kathy have three sons, Grant, Garrett who is a member of the United States men's national volleyball team and Myles who has played American football and volleyball for the Stanford Cardinal.

Navy

He became a Navy SEAL in 1979 and by 1994 was a senior chief boatswain mate.

Bobsleigh

Muagututia was approached by the American founder of the American Samoa Bobsled Federation because of his background as a Navy SEAL. His first experience in a bobsleigh was at a driving school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 1992. He earned qualification for the 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer Norway, by scoring 38 points across two international competitions in held Calgary, to earn above the minimum standard of 20 points, and by taking part in five international competitions. His results included a tenth-place finish in an Americas Cup Division race.

He was selected to represent American Samoa at the 1994 Winter Olympics as part of a two-man bobsleigh team alongside brakeman Brad Kiltz. This was the first time American Samoa had sent athletes to a Winter Olympic Games. The pair were managed by William "Buddy" Hoblak. In the first run Muagututia and Kiltz placed 41st out of the 43 sleds in a time of 55.57 seconds. On the second run they were again 41st in a faster time of 55.25 seconds. They improved to 37th position on run three with a time of 55.06 seconds. On the fourth and final run they finished 38th in a time of 55.16 seconds. Overall they finished 39th with a combined time of 3 minutes 31.04 seconds.