Sumo legend Akebono dies of heart failure at 54

by time news

Sumo legend Akebono Taro has died aged 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.

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.

Akebono later entered the ring as a professional wrestler and K-1 martial artist. His wrestling career ended in 2017. “I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing 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 .

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