Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka Arakawa
Arakawa at the 2009 Festa On Ice.
Born	(1981-12-29) December 29, 1981 (age 42) Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Skating club	Prince Hotel
Retired	May 7, 2006
Medal record
Event Olympic Games 1 0 0 World Championships 1 0 0 Four Continents Championships 0 2 0 Grand Prix Final 0 1 1 Japanese Championships 2 3 3 Medal list Olympic Games 2006 Turin Singles World Championships 2004 Dortmund Singles Four Continents Championships 2002 Jeonju Singles 2003 Beijing Singles Grand Prix Final 2004–05 Beijing Singles 2003–04 Colorado Springs Singles Japanese Championships 1997–98 Kobe Singles 1998–99 Yokohama Singles 1996–97 Nagano Singles 2000–01 Nagano Singles 2001–02 Osaka Singles 2002–03 Kyoto Singles 2003–04 Nagano Singles 2005–06 Tokyo Singles

Shizuka Arakawa (荒川 静香, Arakawa Shizuka, born December 29, 1981) is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic champion and the 2004 World champion. Arakawa is the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in figure skating, after Midori Ito, who won silver in 1992. She is also the second Japanese woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, following skier Tae Satoya. She was the only Japanese medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Arakawa retired from competitive skating following her Olympic win and began skating professionally in ice shows and exhibitions. She also works as a skating sportscaster for Japanese television.