Pita Taufatofua emerged from the tunnel covered in his trademark body oil and wearing a grass skirt, sandals and a huge smile as he led the Tongan delegation around the arena.
"I won't freeze. I am from Tonga. We sailed across the Pacific. This is nothing," Taufatofua said.
The Oceania gold medallist in taekwondo made global headlines in 2016 with a shirtless entrance as the country's flagbearer at the Rio Olympics.
The good news for his admirers is that he returned for the Winter Olympics, having switched to cross country ski-ing.
