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February 9 - 15, 2001
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By Chikaki Mogi/AP
Hawaii’s Chad Rowan, the first foreigner to become a grand champion in the ancient sport of sumo wrestling, is to millions of Japanese the epitome of strength.
But after 13 years in the sport, the 31-year-old Rowan — known here by his wrestling name, Akebono — was so beat down that he could hardly go out for walks with his little girl. His knees just couldn’t take it.
Because of sumo’s emphasis on size and heft, its practitioners tend to be notoriously unhealthy. And the problem goes far beyond muscle-pulls and bruised backs.
Knees, ankles and hips are often permanently damaged under the weight of 400 pounds or more. Worse yet, years of deliberately cultivated obesity can mean chronic health problems after retirement — high blood pressure, hardened arteries and diabetes, according to Kimio Yamada, director of the Sumo Association’s health clinic.
Akebono, 6 feet 9 inches and weighing 510 pounds, is a good example, although his ailments are limited to joints overwhelmed by weight, and the daily stresses of training and competing.
Promoted to grand champion in March 1993, the wrestler from Honolulu held sumo’s highest rank for 48 tournaments, the fourth-longest tenure. But injuries, mainly to his knees and ankles, forced him to sit out more than one-quarter of those tournaments, either fully or partially.
He wasn’t alone.
Only three of the top eight wrestlers completed the entire 15-day tournament in March 1999, and all three grand champions were absent. Akebono sat out the most recent of six annual tournaments, held last month.
Over the past decade, the average weight of wrestlers in the top division — the best 40 of the roughly 700 professionals in the sport — has increased 22 pounds to 345 pounds. The average Japanese man weighs less than 155 pounds.
The reason is simple: In sumo, the goal is to push your opponent out of the ring or to make him fall over. But as poundage grows, speed and technical prowess diminish, injuries increase, and the sport loses fans.
“The biggest sin of overweight wrestlers is they become slower,” said Ryohei Nakamura, editor of Ozumo, a popular sumo magazine. “This goes against what fans want to see — speedy, tactical and exciting matches.”
The Sumo Association acknowledges it’s concerned.
“The increasingly large size of the wrestlers is a problem. It stresses out the hips, knees and ankles,” said the association’s spokesman, Suehiro Wakamatsu, himself a former wrestler.
The association has started collecting and analyzing health data for each wrestler, and is promoting a more individual approach to training, Wakamatsu said.
It has eased weight requirements for prospective pros, opening the door to lightweights who are more likely to be quicker and more agile. Youths 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 147 pounds, down from 5 feet 9 inches and 165 pounds, can now take the association’s physical tests, .
Many wrestlers remain heavy all their lives, although most slim down after their fighting days. Still, the association has yet to initiate a long-term study of post-retirement health problems. And each training stable remains free to set its own guidelines on practice and diet.
Mainoumi, a former wrestler who had silicon implanted under his scalp to pass the old height requirement, said one problem is lack of discipline.
“Wrestlers snack between meals,” he said in an interview, and aren’t taught what foods enhance power or lower blood sugar levels.
Heavy drinking and the resulting liver problems are also common. Some stable masters are said to encourage drinking beer at meals as a means of putting on more weight.
And rumors about doping persist, although no cases have been proven. The Sumo Association does not conduct doping tests, and has no plans to do so.
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