Gōeidō Gōtarō

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豪栄道豪太郎
Gōeidō Gōtarō
Personal information

Birth name	Gōtarō Sawai
Date of birth	April 6, 1986 (1986-04-06) (age 22)
Place of birth	Neyagawa, Osaka, Japan
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	136 kg (300 lb)
Career*
Heya	Sakaigawa
Current rank	Maegashira 7
Record	137-83-0
Debut	January 2005
Highest rank	Maegashira 3 (January, 2008)
Yusho	2 (Makushita) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (1)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Gōeidō Gōtarō (born April 6, 1986 as Gōtarō Sawai) is a sumo wrestler from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank has been maegashira 3.

1 Career
2 Top division record
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Neyagawa, he attended Sakami Sakae high school, where as a member of the school sumo club he won 11 national titles. At the 53rd All Japan Sumo Championships held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in December 2004, in which he was the only high school student to compete, he finished in the top four. Gōeidō made his professional debut one month later in January 2005, joining Sakaigawa stable. He initially fought under his own surname of Sawai. He moved through the lower ranks quickly and took the championship in the third highest makushita division in September 2006 with a perfect 7-0 record, which earned him promotion to the second highest jūryō division. At this point he adopted the shikona of Gōeidō.

Gōeidō was promoted to the top makuuchi division after a 12-3 score and runner-up honours at the rank of jūryō 5 in July 2007. He had a very successful top division debut, leading the race for the championship after the 11th day with a score of 10-1. Pitted against higher ranked opposition on the next three days, he lost to Ama, ozeki Chiyotaikai and Yokozuna Hakuhō. He was the first makuuchi debutant to face a yokozuna since Tosanoumi in 1995. He ended the tournament with an 11-4 score and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. In the November tournment he won six of his first seven bouts, and though he began losing in the second week he still finished with a majority of wins (8-7).

He was promoted up the ranks to maegashira 3 in January 2008, his highest rank to date. For this tournament he faced all the top ranking men at the beginning instead of during the second week as had been the case in his debut. He fell short with five wins against ten losses, although did upset ozeki Kotomitsuki on the third day. Back at maegashira 8 for the March 2008 tournament, he clinched his kachi-koshi score of 8-7 with victory on the final day. He produced the same score in the May 2008 tournament, in which his best result was a victory over tournament runner-up Toyonoshima.

Gōeidō joined professional sumo at the same time as Tochiōzan, who Gōeidō had fought a number of times in high school amateur sumo competitions and regards as his chief rival. He reached sekitori status one tournament later than Tochiōzan, who also preceded him into the top division. In their head-to-head clashes in professional sumo, Gōeidō leads 3-1.

[edit] Top division record

Gōeidō Gōtarō ^[1]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2007	x	x	x	x	West Maegashira #14 11–4 F	West Maegashira #6 8–7
2008	East Maegashira #3 5–10	East Maegashira #8 8–7	West Maegashira #7 8–7	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira