Svetlana Goundarenko was born on June 23,1969 and is a Russian judoka, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, known by her career in Japan.
17 Facts About Svetlana Goundarenko
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Svetlana Goundarenko retired in 1999, when she married, opened a pub and became a judo coach and a plus-size model.
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In 1991, Svetlana Goundarenko entered the world of joshi puroresu for Japanese professional wrestling company Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling.
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Svetlana Goundarenko had her final match for FMW on May 24,1992, the streak finally broken by Toyoda.
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Svetlana Goundarenko had her MMA debut for the Japanese joshi promotion Ladies Legends Pro Wrestling in 1995.
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At the third and final round, Goundarenko went against fellow world judo medalist Shinobu Kandori, who took off her judogi to reduce Svetlana's advantage.
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Still, Svetlana Goundarenko managed to corner her against the fence, and although Kandori was able to slip out of the first koshi guruma, the Russian repeated and pinned her with kesa-gatame.
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Svetlana Goundarenko then applied a third neck crank, making Kandori tap out and winning the tournament.
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Svetlana Goundarenko returned to LLPW on October 10,1995 for a rematch against Shinobu Kandori.
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Svetlana Goundarenko returned as part of its special tournament L-1 on July 18,1998, the first ever female mixed martial arts tournament in story.
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On December 5,2000, Svetlana Goundarenko participated in another tournament, ReMix World Cup.
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Now fighting without her gi, Svetlana Goundarenko faced her first opponent, professional wrestler Kyoko Inoue.
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Inoue gained a yellow card by illegally biting Svetlana Goundarenko after receiving an ura nage.
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Svetlana Goundarenko then proceeded to throw her and win by neck crank from kesa-gatame.
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Svetlana Goundarenko won thanks to her judo acumen again, hip-throwing Toughill down twice and submitting her with another kesa-gatame.
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Svetlana Goundarenko then went to semi-finals to face a fellow judo champion turned wrestler and fighter, Megumi Yabushita.
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Svetlana Goundarenko initially controlled the bout with her stand-up advantage and smothering abilities, but the Japanese survived every time, helped by the groundwork-limiting rules, and fired back with leg takedown attempts, even making Svetlana Goundarenko gain her own yellow card by grabbing the ropes to avoid one of them.