Anna Poliakova (maiden name Anna Zhigalova) is a Russian amateur

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler. She has won gold medals in both the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

and

openweight Openweight, also known as Absolute, is an unofficial weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. It refers to bouts where there is no weight limit and fighters with a dramatic difference in size can compete against each other. It is di ...

categories in the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

. She has also won seven golds at the

Sumo World Championships The Sumo World Championships is an amateur sumo competition organized by the International Sumo Federation. The men's competition started in 1992 and the women's competition started in 2001, with both competitions having been held together. The co ...

. In 2018 she was nominated for the World Games Athlete of the Year award.

Biography

She was born in

Izhevsk Izhevsk or Ijevsk (, ; , or ) is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city in Russia, and the most populous in Udmurtia, with over 600,000 ...

Udmurt Republic Udmurtia, officially the Udmurt Republic, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. It was established as the Udmurt (until 1931 — Vots ...

. She played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

from the age of six to twelve, and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

between from thirteen to twenty-one. She is a graduate from Udmurt State University. She has experience working as a swimming instructor in

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

. She began Sumo training at September 2003.

Competition

* She won the heavyweight class on 28 October 2012, at the 9th World Sumo Championships in

Wan Chai Wan Chai (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 灣仔) is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal St ...

. * In 2013, she won the heavyweight and openweight divisions of the

World Games 2013 The 2013 World Games (), the ninth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in the city of Cali, Colombia, from July 25 to August 4. It is the first edition of the World Games to be held in South America. Host city allocation hi ...

Women's Sumo is a form of sumo played by women. Professional sumo traditionally forbids women from competition and ceremonies. Women are not allowed to enter or touch the sumo wrestling ring (''dohyō''). Despite this, women sumo wrestlers have existed throu ...

held in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. * On 18 and 19 October of the same year, he won the heavyweight and openweight divisions at the 2nd World Combat Games Women's Championship held in St. Petersburg, Russia. * On 31 August 2014, she won the Openweight class at the 10th World Women's Sumo Championships held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. * On 30 July 2016, she won the 12th World Women's Sumo Championships in Mongolia in the individual open weight class. * On 22 and 23 July 2017, she won the women's division of the 10th World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland, in the heavyweight and openweight divisions. * On 22 July 2018, she won the 13th World Women's Sumo Championships openweight individual competition at the Taoyuan Arena in Taiwan. * On 13 October 2019, she won the individual heavyweight class at the 14th World Women's Sumo Championships held at Ohama Sumo Stadium in Sakai City, Japan.

References

Living people Russian sumo wrestlers Female sumo wrestlers World Games gold medalists for Russia World Games medalists in sumo 1981 births Sportspeople from Izhevsk Medalists at the 2009 World Games Medalists at the 2013 World Games Medalists at the 2017 World Games {{Russia-martialart-bio-stub