Sammy Stacey - SCHOOLGIRL thrilled when she became a Sumo Kid star at just 14. The youngster couldn't believe her luck when she became the first Western girl ever to be invited to join a top sumo school in Japan.
But Sammy's delight soon turned to misery when her sumo teachers began to force-feed her — and she ballooned to a giant 23 STONE.
Sammy, now 16, said: "I was so excited about gaining a place. But it was horrible.
"Because I was low-ranking, I had to get up at five and prepare breakfast for the other students.
"No-one spoke English and I didn't understand what was going on in lessons.
"I felt constantly sick from all the food we had to eat."
Sammy, from Queensland, Australia, bagged the coveted place at Tottori Johoku High School in Japan after winning gold in the Sumo Wrestling World Championships in Estonia in 2008.
But she claims when she arrived at the school her sumo teachers forced her to eat greasy porridge with eggs and lumps of meat, and screamed at her until she finished up to five bowls at a time.
She said: "Every morning it was the same thing — eat, eat, eat.
"As soon as I put my bowl down, they were prodding me to pick it up again."
Sammy was told to snack on beans covered in oil before lunch, which was more meat and rice.
Her daily calorie intake was around 5,500, nearly three times the average recommended for a woman.
After six months Sammy called her parents and begged them to take her home.
Her dad Warren told her to pack all her belongings without telling anyone and take them to her next sumo tournament.
He said: "I was shocked when I saw her. She had put on a lot of weight.
"She was slow and had lost her agility. She just looked so unhappy."
Warren brought her home to her anxious mum Suzanne and the rest of her family in September 2009.
But on her return she suffered even more upset when the Australia Sumo Federation banned her from wrestling over the "escape".
Sammy said: "My heart is broken. I love sumo so much and now I won't be able to wrestle again."
Source : The Sun
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