He was born on April 26, 1983, in the small town of Zaigrayevo, Zaigrayevsky District, Buryatia in what was then the Soviet Union. He had been extraordinarily large since childhood, and after seeing sumo on television for the first time at the age of eight he was inspired to become a sumo wrestler. In 1999 at the age of 16 he moved with his family to St. Petersburg so he could study sumo. There he was scouted by the 55th yokozunaKitanoumi, joining Kitanoumi stable in March 2000. He was the first Russian to enter professional sumo. He made his debut alongside Ryūō, Hōchiyama and. He was given the shikona of Ōrora, a reference to the Aurora. Ōrora spent most of his career in the fourth-highest sandanme division, which he first reached in May 2002. He had nine tournaments ranked in the third-highest makushita division, which he first reached in January 2008, peaking at Makushita 43 East in November 2011. His last appearance in the division was in January 2014. He served as a tsukebito or personal attendant to Kitanoumi for fourteen years until his stablemaster's death in November 2015, upon which his stable was renamed Yamahibiki with the former maegashiraGanyū becoming his stablemaster. His career record was 376 wins against 382 losses, with 12 absences due to injury, over 111 tournaments.
Weight
Ōrora already weighed on his debut in March 2000, and in 2010 reached, surpassing Yamamotoyama to be the second-heaviest sumo wrestler recorded. He recalled on one occasion ordering 50 servings of yakiniku, plus six bowls of ramen noodles. After reaching in the January 2017 health check-up he tried changing his diet, eating only once a day and taking more exercise by walking around his heya. However, he did not check his weight on a scale until the next health check-up on 22 August 2017, and in the seven months since he had, in fact, increased his weight by another five kilograms to reach, surpassing former ōzeki Konishiki's set in 1996 to become the heaviest wrestler ever in professional sumo. Ōrora remarked that he had not been aiming for the record but at least would now have a place in history. He joked that a rice ball eaten as a snack must have put him over. In a Twitter post on April 6, 2018, Orora stated that his weight had increased to. However, his peak weight officially recorded by the Sumo Association was, just before his retirement.
Retirement
In September 2017 he was demoted to jonidan, a division in which he had not competed since 2003. In September 2018 he announced his retirement after winning his final match to give him a 1–6 record at the rank of jonidan 12. Speaking to reporters he paid tribute to his late stablemaster Kitanoumi, and said his most memorable match was his victory over a young Hakuhō in September 2001. After a retirement ceremony at his stable, he returned to Russia on October 7, 2018. He is planning to find a job in sports events. He announced on his Instagram account in April 2020 that since retiring he had lost 100kg. Speaking to the Asahi Shimbun in June 2020, said he had now switched to five small meals a day, does not eat after 7pm, walks 6 kilometres a day and goes to a gym. He said that it was difficult to stay healthy while living in a sumo stable as "you are the only person that can take care of you. Nobody in your sumo stable cares about you." While active he suffered from hypertension and fatigue.
Fighting style
Ōrora had a huge weight advantage over nearly all his opponents—his advantage over the wrestler Ohara in January 2012 was the largest disparity ever in a professional sumo bout, though he was beaten by the smaller wrestler by stepping out of the ring during a throw attempt. On the twelfth day of the September 2001 tournament he won with the extremely rare technique of tsukaminage or lifting throw, which can only be achieved against opponents much lighter than oneself, and had not been seen in a tournament since Tokitsuyama won with it in November 1957. He also enjoyed employing the rare kimarite of kimedashi, or arm-barring force-out, and was credited with this technique 41 times as of July 2017, by far the most among his contemporaries. His most common winning technique was a straightforward force out or yori-kiri. However, Ōrora was severely restricted by his lack of speed and agility, and only won around half his bouts. Many of his opponents simply circled him, waiting for him to tire.
Career record
Note: Six official basho or tournaments are held each year—the Hatsu, Haru, Natsu, Nagoya, Aki and Kyushu. Wrestlers in lower divisions fight seven bouts per tournament.
