John Gunning

John Gunning is an Irish sports journalist and sports commentator living and working in Japan. He is particularly known for his coverage of sumo, in which he previously competed at amateur level. Early life and education Gunning is from Castlerea, County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland. He developed a fondness for American football as it was exotic to him. Gunning attended Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, where he earned a degree in media and communications. While at university, he and some classmates were in a rock band named Libido. Gunning lived in both the United States and Italy for a time. Career Gunning first visited Japan in 2000 for a two-week holiday with a friend and fell in love with the country. He quit his job upon returning to Ireland, and nine months later was living and working in Osaka teaching English. In order to make friends and facilitate learning the Japanese language, Gunning joined a local sports team called the Red Flags, not knowing that they were tied to a communist party. Upon moving to Tokyo, Gunning gave up association football due to injuries and took up sumo in 2004 at the age of 30. He joined Komatsuryu Dojo, one of the oldest sumo clubs in the country for young wrestlers who want to go on to join professional sumo stables. He decided to double his weight to 120 kilos and focused on power as he lacked speed. He competed in amateur sumo for a decade, suffering injuries such as concussions, breaking his humerus, fracturing his skull, and breaking several teeth. Gunning represented Ireland at three Sumo World Championships; 2007 in Thailand, 2008 in Estonia, and 2012 in Hong Kong, but in his words he was unable to translate his results seen in training into the tournaments, and so retired in 2012.