Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka Arakawa is a retired Japanese figure skater born in 1981 who won the women's singles title at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the World Championship in 2004. Her Olympic victory made her the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating, and she was the only Japanese medalist at those Games. She is the second Japanese woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, after the skier Tae Satoya, and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic figure skating medal after Midori Ito, who took silver in 1992. Arakawa retired from competition after her Olympic win. She went on to skate in ice shows and exhibitions and has worked as a skating commentator on Japanese television.