Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka Arakawa
Arakawa at the 2009 Festa On Ice.
Personal information
Country represented	Japan
Born	(1981-12-29) December 29, 1981 (age 35) Tokyo, Japan
Residence	Simsbury, Connecticut
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Former coach	Nikolai Morozov, Evgeni Platov, Nanami Abe, Tatiana Tarasova, Richard Callaghan, Minoru Sano, Kumiko Sato, Hiroshi Nagakubo
Skating club	Prince Hotel
Retired	May 7, 2006
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	191.34 2006 Olympics
Short program	66.02 2006 Olympics
Free skate	125.32 2006 Olympics
Medal record Representing  Japan Ladies’ Figure Skating Olympic Games 2006 Turin Ladies' singles World Championships 2004 Dortmund Ladies' Singles Four Continents Championships 2003 Beijing Ladies’ Singles 2002 Jeonju Ladies’ Singles Grand Prix Final 2004–05 Beijing Ladies’ Singles 2003–04 Colorado Springs Ladies’ Singles Winter Universiade 2003 Tarvisio 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 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.

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

In March 2000, Arakawa enrolled at Waseda University 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 after the closure of the Konami Sports Ice Rink in Sendai, where she began her career.