Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka Arakawa

Arakawa at the 2009 Festa On Ice.
Personal information
Country represented:	Japan
Date of birth:	December 29, 1981 (1981-12-29) (age 29)
Residence:	Simsbury, Connecticut
Height:	165 cm (5.41 ft)
Former coach:	Nikolai Morozov, Evgeni Platov, Nanami Abe, Tatiana Tarasova, Richard Callaghan, Minoru Sano, Kumiko Sato, Hiroshi Nagakubo
Skating club:	Prince Hotel
Medal record Competitor for  Japan Ladies’ Figure Skating Olympic Games Gold 2006 Turin Ladies' Singles World Championships Gold 2004 Dortmund Ladies' Singles Four Continents Championships Silver 2003 Beijing Ladies’ Singles Silver 2002 Jeonju Ladies’ Singles Grand Prix Final Silver 2003–2004 Beijing Ladies’ Singles Bronze 2002–2003 Colorado Springs Ladies’ Singles
ISU personal best scores
Combined total:	191.34 2006 Olympics
Short program:	66.02 2006 Olympics
Free skate:	125.32 2006 Olympics

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Japan
Ladies’ Figure Skating
Gold	2006 Turin	Ladies' Singles

Shizuka Arakawa (荒川 静香, Arakawa Shizuka^?, born December 29, 1981) is a Japanese figure skater.

She is the 2006 Olympic Champion and the 2004 World Champion. Arakawa is the first person in Japan to win a gold Olympic medal for figure skating. She is the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in figure skating, after Midori Ito, who won silver. She is also the second Japanese woman to win any gold medal at the Winter Olympics, after skier Tae Satoya. Her gold medal was the only medal for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

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

Personal life

Arakawa was born in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Sendai, Miyagi, the largest city in the Tohoku region. She is the only child of Koichi and Sachi Arakawa. She was named Shizuka after Shizuka Gozen.

She enrolled at Waseda University in March 2000, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in social sciences in 2004, while still competing as a skater. She won the 2004 World Figure Skating Championships days after completing her graduation examinations at Waseda University.

She lived and trained for a time at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, Connecticut in the United States after the closure of the Konami Sports Ice Rink in Sendai, where she began her career.

Her figure skating idols are Kristi Yamaguchi and Yuka Sato. She listens to music by Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé and EXILE, and likes shopping, driving, swimming, golf and practising marine sports.

Arakawa cites gourmet cooking as one of her hobbies. She collects beanie babies, has a pet shih tzu (named Charo) and hamster (named Juntoki). She also has four dogs, named Choco, Tiramisu, Aroma and Rosa.

Career

Early career

When Arakawa was 5 years old, she became interested in skating and entered the Chibikko Skate School.

She started ballet lessons at 7. While still 7, Arakawa had begun training with former Olympian Hiroshi Nagakubo, a pair skater who competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. She was landing triple-jump salchows at age 8.

In 1994, she began participating in Japanese national skating competitions. She was named the 1994, 1995, 1996 All Japan Junior Figure athlete. Arakawa progressed through the Japanese ranks quickly and was the first skater in Japan to win three consecutive junior national titles.

Senior career

Arakawa performs a donut spin at the 2003 Skate Canada International in her free skate to Violin Fantasy on the opera Turandot.

Arakawa was the senior national Japanese champion in both 1998 and 1999.

Arakawa made her Olympic debut when she represented Japan in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano at age 16. The Emperor and Empress of Japan attended the ladies' free skate event. She placed 13th at the Nagano Olympics. At that time, she was ranked number 2 in Japan.

In 2002, Arakawa finished second at Japan's national championships and, as a result, was not named to the Japanese 2002 Winter Olympics team.

During the 2002–2003 skating season, Arakawa won the Asian Winter Games and the Winter Universiade. She earned her second consecutive silver medal at the Four Continents Championships. She took the bronze at the NHK Trophy, and placed fifth at the Cup of Russia. She qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final, where she finished fourth. She later placed third at the Japanese Nationals, marking her fifth medal from this meet, with two golds and two silvers from previous seasons.

In 2004, she won the 2004 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany, after landing seven clean triple jumps. She is the third Japanese woman to win this title after Midori Ito who won in 1989 and Yuka Sato in 1994.

Arakawa had planned to retire after the 2004 World Championships, but her victory there convinced her to change her plans. She struggled with a foot injury, homesickness and motivation, and was beginning to trail behind younger Japanese competitors like Miki Ando and Mao Asada.

Her 9th place finish at the 2005 World Championships was the motivation she said she needed to stay in the sport and regain top form. She felt she could not quit on such a down note. In November 2005, Arakawa called Belarus figure skater Nikolai Morozov and asked if he would consider coaching her. He agreed.

2006 Winter Olympics

Arakawa performs a Kerrigan spiral in her exhibition to Memory from Cats at the 2004 NHK Trophy.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Arakawa skated in the short program to Fantaisie-Impromptu by Chopin. After the short program, Arakawa was in third place behind Sasha Cohen and Irina Slutskaya. Less than a point separated the top three skaters.

Although Cohen and Slutskaya were the heavy favorites for the gold medal, both fell during the long program. Arakawa skated to Vanessa Mae's Violin Fantasy on Puccini's Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. One of the highlights of the program was when she performed an Ina Bauer and then did a three jump combination. "Ina Bauer" became a household word in Japan as a result. Arakawa skated a clean free-skate program, with no falls. Although she had planned two triple-triple combinations for the free skate, she did not perform them. She changed them to a triple Lutz-double loop and a triple salchow-double toe loop combinations.

She earned a total combined score of 191.34 points, almost eight points ahead of the second-place Cohen (183.36), earning her the gold medal. Slutskaya was third at 181.44.

Arakawa's Olympic win was the first in the event for a Japanese skater. Her gold medal gave Japan its first and only medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics, and she became just the second Japanese woman to win a Winter Olympic gold. At age 24, Arakawa is the oldest women's Olympic skating champion in more than 80 years. Florence "Madge" Cave Syers from the United Kingdom was the oldest when she won the Olympic title at age 27 at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom which featured the first Olympic figure skating events.^[1] Arakawa also was the second Japanese woman to win a figure skating Olympic medal of any kind, after Midori Ito. Arakawa is the second Japanese woman to win a Winter Olympic gold, after Tae Satoya.

After winning her Olympic title, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called Arakawa in Turin, Italy to congratulate her. Koizumi said, "I cheered for you with excitement while I watched television. All the Japanese people are rejoicing. I give a perfect score to every bit of your performance."^[2]

Professional career

Arakawa continues to skate in exhibition programs and is a regular skating commentator for Japanese TV. She competed in the 2006 Ice Wars on the World team.

In 2006, Arakawa appeared in a Japanese TV drama, Shichinin no onna bengoshi (7 female lawyers), presented by Asahi TV. She played the role of a cool public prosecutor, Yayoi Shimasaki, in the 8th episode.

She competed in a new ABC skating series "Thin Ice," aired on March 19, 2010, paired with Stéphane Lambiel. They ended the series in third place, winning a total of $45,000. They skated to the songs "Get Me Bodied" by Beyoncé and "Magic" by Robin Thicke.

Signature moves

Arakawa performs her signature layback Ina Bauer in in her exhibition to You Raise Me Up by Celtic Women at the 2006 Olympics.

Arakawa is known for her jumping ability, particularly her difficult triple-triple combinations, like the triple salchow-triple toe and the triple lutz-triple toe, sometimes combined with a double loop. She has executed triple-triple-triple combinations in practice, the most of which have been the triple salchow-triple toe-triple loop combination. She has also executed the triple lutz-triple loop combination in practice.

Arakawa is a great spinner. She has an excellent donut spin, a difficult variation of the Camel spin, that requires great flexibility. In 2004, she added a Biellmann spin to her repertoire.

Arakawa is also known for her spirals. Her signature spiral is a Y-spiral where she releases her free leg and completes the spiral with her leg still close to her head, without the hand assist.

Her trademark move is the Ina Bauer. Arakawa's interpretation of this move putting her in a full backbend. Due to Arakawa's use of this move during her free skate at the 2006 Olympics, the term "Ina Bauer" became very popular in Japan, and Arakawa's performance of it became iconic. The term Ina Bauer is often referred to in Japan by Arakawa's name.

Programs

Competitive highlights

Post-2000

Pre-2000

• N = Novice level; WD = Withdrew

Media appearances

DVD

• 荒川静香 Moment Beautiful skating (2006) – ASIN B000BRBPFG
• TORINO2006 日本女子 (2006) – ASIN B000EXDYHO

Book

• Tira mi su―だから私はがんばれる! (2006）- ISBN 9784048839631
• 金メダルへの道（2006）- ISBN 9784140811269
• LEGEND OF THE ATHLETE荒川静香物語 (2007) – ISBN 9784088743691

References

• The Advertiser. (2006). Arakawa stuns stars on ice. Retrieved February 25, 2006, from http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18257422%5E23218,00.html

• International Skating Union. (2006). Shizuka Arakawa's statistics. Retrieved February 24, 2006, from http://www.isufs.org/bios/isufs00000324.htm

• Knapp, G. (2006). A golden princess: Quiet deserving winner. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 25, 2006, from http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/25/KNAPP.TMP

• Zinser, L. (2006). A night of nerves is settled on a turn of elegance. New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2006 from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/sports/olympics/24skate.html?ex=1298437200&en=7eccc04dddd31e3c&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

• Ziegler M. (2006). Losing her feat. San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2006, from http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060224/news_lz1x24losing.html

External links

• Shizuka-Arakawa.com(Japanese)
• International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury
• Shizuka Arakawa at the International Skating Union
• Japan Skates – Website dedicated to the Japanese ladies figure skating team featuring news, rare photos and exclusive interviews

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