MELO Imai was once a snowboarding prodigy but a tragic turn saw her go from Olympic icon to escort and softcore porn star. Melo Imai prepares for the Winter Olympics and inset, smiles on the cover of her pornographic film Snow Drop. At just 18, the winter sports prodigy entered the Olympics in Turin as one of the favourites in the halfpipe after winning a World Cup a year earlier.
Trained by her father, former Olympic volleyballer Takashi Narita, Imai arrived in northern Italy with golden ambition. A heavy crash which saw her slam her back on the lip of the halfpipe left her slipping in and out of consciousness and she had to be carried off the slopes. She finished 34th of 34 competitors.
The whole experience was terrible. Leading up to the Games I had this constant fear of failure, like a choking feeling. It was the same throughout my career. Melo Imai sits on the snow after falling.
Melo Imai is helped after falling at the Turin Winter Olympics. But after upsetting a powerful US team that went on to medal in their opening pool game, Japan lost a five-setter against France which releagated them to a quartefinal match against the gold medal-winning Brazil team. They were thrashed and went home empty-handed. After a similarly fruitless appearance at the World Championships, Narita turned his attention to his children, three of which he began coaching in snowboarding.
According to Imai, whose parents divorced when she was five and was introduced to the sport at seven, her father was a disciplinarian who had full control of her life. The approach, which saw Imai forego school so she could train as early as 5am and as late as 11pm, had early results.
