Melo Imai

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Melo Imai Snowboard
nation JapanJapan Japan
birthday 26th October 1987 (age 32)
place of birth Osaka , Japan
size 154 cm
Weight 48 kg
Career
discipline halfpipe
Placements
FIS logo World cup
 Debut in the World Cup February 18, 2001
 World Cup victories 3
 Overall World Cup 54th ( 2005/06 )
 Halfpipe World Cup 1st ( 2004/05 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 halfpipe 3 2 1
last change: February 22, 2018

Melo Imai ( Japanese 今井 メ ロ , Imai Mero , born 成 田 , Narita ; born October 26, 1987 in Osaka ) is a Japanese freestyle snowboarder , tarento, gravure idol and porn actress . In her specialty halfpipe , she won the World Cup in the 2004/05 season and took part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin .

biography

Snowboarding

Melo Imai is the daughter of volleyball player and participant in the 1992 Summer Olympics , Takashi Narita. When she was five years old, her parents divorced. She began snowboarding at the age of seven and, like her brother Dome Narita , later also an Olympian, was trained by her father.

At the age of twelve, the girl was already considered a “child prodigy” in the halfpipe. In December 2000 she won her first FIS competition in Lake Placid and immediately finished seventh in her World Cup debut on February 18, 2001 in Sapporo . In the same winter, at the age of 13, she was crowned Japanese national champion for the first time. After further winters at FIS level and sporadic World Cup appearances , she won the Japanese championship for the second time in March 2004 in Hakuba . The following season 2004/05 was the most successful of her career. While she was still among the defeated at the World Championships in Whistler with rank 15, she finished five of the seven World Cup competitions on the podium. With three wins and a total of 4700 points, the 17-year-old secured victory in the Halfpipe World Cup.

With a rap composed especially for her to support her, she traveled to Turin in February 2006 as one of the favorites for the Winter Olympics . In the qualification in Bardonecchia , however, she fell, injured herself and finished 34th and last. The Japanese media took her to court, calling her “a waste of taxes” and “Japan's shame”. Defeated by this experience, the only 18-year-old ended her international snowboard career and only started at national events.

In February 2018, a decade after her last competition, she made a remarkable comeback in the halfpipe when she won the Japanese championship for the third time with just four days of training. With a score of 90.75 points she was 14 points ahead of the runner-up. Since then, the media have been speculating with Imai's possible participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing .

Further career

After her Olympic career, Imai made a name for herself in Japan as a TV personality (Tarento). In 2012 she ran the “Mellow Style” blog and her own fashion label . In the same year she published an autobiography in which she revealed, among other things, that she was a victim of rape at the age of 17 . She also said that her strict father forbade her to engage in “girly” behavior such as applying makeup or wearing a skirt as a teenager. In addition, she began to work as a hostess in a bar, later as a gravure idol and call girl . After numerous appearances in softcore videos, Snow Drop made her debut as a full-fledged porn actress ( AV Idol ) in March 2017 . The DVD received mostly negative reviews from the media. Imai said she did not regret her time in the sex industry , even though she started for financial reasons.

After her active sports career, the Japanese was married for a short time. The marriage resulted in a son and a daughter, whom she raised as a single mother.

Sporting successes

Olympic games

World championships

World cup

  • 6 podium places, including 3 wins:
date place country discipline
February 26, 2005 Sungwoo Resort South Korea halfpipe
March 18, 2005 Tandådalen Sweden halfpipe
October 21, 2005 Saas-Fee Switzerland halfpipe

World Cup ratings

season total halfpipe
space Points space Points
2000/01 - - 48. 388
2002/03 - - 38. 400
2003/04 - - 26th 800
2004/05 - - 1. 4700
2005/06 54. 1500 17th 1500

More Achievements

  • Japanese champion in the halfpipe 2001, 2004 and 2018
  • Win the Takasago Cup in 2008
  • 9 victories in FIS competitions

bibliography

  • Melo Imai: 泣 い て 、 病 ん で 、 で も 笑 っ て . Ed .: Futabasha. 2012, ISBN 978-4575304565 (Japanese).

Filmography

DVD

  • 2008: メ ロ ウ (Mellow) (ぶ ん か 社, Bunkasha)
  • 2014: Mellow Style (キ ン グ ダ ム, Kingdom)
  • 2014: I've Been Mellow (Kingdom)
  • 2014: Mellow Juice (Kingdom)
  • 2014: Mellow Time (Kingdom)
  • 2014: Mellow Love (Kingdom)
  • 2015: Mellow World (Kingdom)
  • 2015: ト リ ノ の 女神 (Goddess of Turin) (Kingdom)
  • 2015: な ア ス リ ー ト (Athlete) (Kingdom)
  • 2016: ク ラ イ マ ッ ク ス (Climax) (Kingdom)
  • 2016: Mellow Special (Kingdom)
  • 2016: Mellow Feeling (Kingdom)
  • 2016: Mellow Scandal (Kingdom)
  • 2016: Macau (Kingdom)
  • 2016: Pheromones (Kingdom)
  • 2017: Reincarnation (Kingdom)
  • 2017: Mellow Kiss (Kingdom)
  • 2017: Mellow Body (Kingdom)
  • 2017: Snow Drop (Muteki)
  • 2018: Snow Out (Muteki)

TV

  • 2015: Garo: Gold Storm Sho (1 episode)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Troubled tale of Japanese snowboarding prodigy turned prostitute Melo Imai. The New Zealand Herald , February 17, 2018, accessed February 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Katherine Barner: From Olympic Snowboarder to Porn Star, Melo Imai is Ready to Return to the Slopes. Complex, February 20, 2018, accessed February 22, 2018 .
  3. ↑ 今井 メ ロ 、 6 年 越 し の 告白 あ の ラ ッ プ は 「大人 大人」 に や ら さ れ て い た. J-Cast, March 18, 2012, accessed February 22, 2018 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ Roland Shichijo: Ex-Olympic snowboarder Melo Imai to make porn debut. Tokyo Reporter, April 10, 2017, accessed February 22, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Imai, Melo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 今井 メ ロ (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese snowboarder and tarento
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Osaka