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 figure skater to win the Olympics. She is the second Japanese figure skater to win an Olympic medal, after Midori Ito, and is the second Japanese woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, after skier Tae Satoya. Her gold medal was the only medal for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics..