Jonah Lomu

In 1996, Jonah Lomu married South African Tanya Rutter. They stayed together for four years in New Zealand before they divorced. He married Fiona in August 2003, but they got divorced in 2008 due to his affair with Nadene Quirk.

He married Nadene in 2011 and they had two children—Brayley and Dhyreille. At the time of his death, he was living with Nadene.

He was a member of the Champions for Peace club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to maintaining peace in the world through sport. In 1996, McDonald's New Zealand named a burger ‘Jonah Burger’ after Lomu.

Jonah Tali Lomu was born on May 12, 1975 in Greenlane, Auckland, New Zealand, to Semisi Lomu (father) and Hepi Lomu (mother).

In his early childhood, he spent some time in Tonga with his aunt and uncle. After he lost his uncle and a cousin in gang violence, his mother took him out of Tonga, and sent him to Wesley College where he did his schooling.

Jonah Lomu started playing rugby professionally at the age of 14, and played a game with New Zealand sevens star Eric Rush. Rush was so impressed with him that he invited him to a sevens tournament in Singapore.

He was introduced to rugby union through a tournament in Te Kuiti. Initially, he started his rugby union career in the forwards as an openside flanker. Sometimes he also played on the blindside.

In 1993, at the age of 18, he represented New Zealand in the national under-19 side and under-21 side.

At the age of 19, he became the youngest All Black test player as he played against France in 1994, breaking a record set by Edgar Wrigley in 1905. He was included in the squad for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, where he scored seven tries in five matches.

New Zealand played against Australia for Bledisloe Cup, where Lomu scored tries in two matches. He also scored two tries in the New Zealand national team All Blacks’ victory over Italy in Bologna. The team lost against France in Toulouse, where he failed to score any tries. But he scored a try in the second test in Paris, which helped his team to win.

In 1995, Jonah Lomu was named Player of the Tournament in the Rugby World Cup and was the first All Black since 1905 to score four tries against England in a test match.

At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, he won a gold medal representing New Zealand in the Sevens Rugby event.

In 2002, the UK public voted Lomu's performance in the 1995 World Cup no. 19 on the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

He was the youngest player to score ten test match tries and the first to score 12 test match tries in a year.