Sports 230-Kilo-Colossus
Sumo legend Akebono dies at 54
As of: 3:04 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Akebono Taro was the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the rank of grandmaster in sumo
What: REUTERS
Akebono was an icon of his sport. He achieved something very special in sumo. Now the 230 kilogram wrestler has died. Even the US ambassador mourns the loss of the “giant in the world of sumo”.
In Japan, people are mourning the loss of a great player in their national sport. Akebono Taro, one of sumo’s legends, has died at the age of 54. Akebono was the first foreign-born wrestler to achieve the rank of “yokozuna” (grandmaster) in Japan. “It is with great sadness that we announce that Akebono Taro died of heart failure in a hospital near Tokyo earlier this month,” the family said in a statement. Akebono won eleven major sumo tournaments before retiring in 2001. He leaves behind his wife Christine and three children.
A force in the ring: Akebono (left) weighed around 230 kilograms against his opponents
Source: AFP/STR
Born in Hawaii in 1969 as Chadwick Haheo Rowan, the athlete, who is over two meters tall and weighs a good 230 kilograms, moved to Tokyo in the late 1980s. He won his first major championship in 1993, after which he was named the 64th yokozuna in history. Three years later, Akebono received Japanese citizenship. There are currently 73 grandmasters, including six other foreigners.
Also a star in wrestling
Akebono later entered the ring as a professional wrestler and K-1 martial artist; In 2005, Akebono competed against wrestling star The Big Show at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. “I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Akebono, a giant in the world of sumo, a proud Hawaiian and a bridge between the United States and Japan,” US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel wrote on Platform X . “He opened the door for other foreign wrestlers to succeed in the sport.”
The Hawaii native also became an icon in wrestling
What: REUTERS
“His fights and his personality captivated many fans,” said the wrestling association All Japan Pro-Wrestling in an initial statement on the death of the popular athlete. He had his last wrestling match on April 11, 2017, but health problems forced him to end his career.