While at Texas A&M he was a peer voted team captain, Big XII Conference Champion, NCAA All-American, and recipient of The Aggie Heart Award.

[4] In preparation for the 2012 London Olympics Fonua was trained by New Zealander and designated head coach for Tonga, Jon Winter.

[5] As a swimmer at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's 100 metre breaststroke, failing to reach the semifinals.

Fonua made an international comeback at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

[4][10][11] After The Daily Beast published a contentious piece about athletes using Grindr at the 2016 Olympics, he criticized the article as 'deplorable', writing: "It is still illegal to be gay in Tonga, and while I’m strong enough to be me in front of the world, not everybody else is.