Sumo wrestler Baruto, aka 20-year-old Kaido Hoovelson, was encouraged to come to Japan by his judo coach, who described the life of a wrestler as "a lot of sleeping, a lot of eating, a little bit of training. But for the past three years, Baruto’s life has been characterized by “a lot of cleaning, a lot of training, a little bit of sleeping.”
Exerpted
Past the pain and language barriers
Estonian not thrown by new language, life and sport
By TONY MCNICOL
Even for a sumo wrestler, Kaido Hoovelson looks big. The 20-year-old Estonian, who goes by the ring name of “Baruto,” stands 197-cm tall, making him one of sumo’s tallest wrestlers.
Last time he checked, he weighed a solid 162 kg – “166 after dinner.” Edit: Wow?!!?!
Behind the table of a pokey Ryogoku bar, he takes sips from an oddly small looking glass of beer and recounts the first bruising year of his sumo career.
Baruto’s Judo coach in Estonia encouraged him to come to Japan. "He told me it’s not very difficult . . . a lot of sleeping, a lot of eating, a little bit training. I said ‘why not?’ "
A little later Baruto entered his present sumo stable.
Unfortunately, it seems his coach’s description wasn’t totally accurate.
“At first it was a big shock,” says Baruto. In between training sessions, he was busy with chores like washing the older wrestlers’ clothes and sweeping out the dojo.
It was, he says, “a lot of cleaning, a lot of training, a little bit sleeping.”
At least his coach was right about the eating.
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050301zg.htm
Personally, I think we should end world starvation first.