Yamato Gō

Yamato Gō (born 17 December 1969 as George Kalima) is a former sumo wrestler from Oahu, Hawaii, United States. His highest rank was maegashira 12.

Career
He was a schoolfriend of future yokozuna Akebono. He made his professional debut in November 1990, joining Magaki stable. Yamato reached the salaried sekitori ranks in March 1995 when he was promoted to the jūryō division. He reached the top makuuchi division in January 1997, the first wrestler from his stable to do so since it was re-established in 1983. He chalked up a winning record of 8–7 in his debut and was ranked there for seven tournaments. He was forced to sit out the March 1998 tournament with a life-threatening bout of pneumonia which sent him down to jūryō. Still not fully recovered in May, he turned in a disastrous 1–14 record and fell to the unsalaried makushita division. Just before the July tournament he was hit by a car and was forced to withdraw once again. This sent him down to the bottom of makushita. After a 5–2 score in September he decided to retire rather than face another long struggle back up the rankings, and started up his own restaurant, Kama'āina's, in Tokyo's Roppongi district.

Although Yamato never rose high enough in the rankings to face a yokozuna in tournament competition, he once defeated Takanohana eight times in a row in training.

Fighting style
Yamato specialised in pushing and thrusting techniques, rarely fighting on the mawashi, and his two favourite kimarite were tsukidashi, or thrust out, and oshidashi, or push out.

Family
His brother Glenn, one year younger than George, also joined Magaki stable two months after Yamato, competing under the shikona of Ōnami 男波 (later Wakachikara 若力). He was the same height as Yamato but considerably lighter at around 110 to 126 kg. In May 1993 he was ranked higher than his elder brother at Makushita 26, but was injured in the September 1993 tournament and dropped significantly in rank. He retired in November 1994, a few months before Yamatō's jūryō debut.

A third Kalima brother, Kalani, was also interested in joining sumo but was unable to find a stable and instead became a practitioner of Hawaiian martial arts.