Shizuka Arakawa became the first Asian-born woman to win the Olympic Gold medal in figure skating at the 2006 Torino Winter Games.

Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka tours in the United States, Europe and Asia with Champions on Ice and makes frequent guest appearances in other skating productions.

Arakawa said by performing in ice shows, "I would like to repay my debt of gratitude to the world of figure skating."

Arakawa made her acting debut in June by playing a prosecutor in the Japanese TV drama "Shichinin no onna bengoshi" (Seven female lawyers).

She is the second oldest woman, 24, to win the Olympic gold medal. Arakawa also won the 2004 World Championship.

Arakawa was locked in the closest Olympic women's finals competition in recent memory. She trailed Sasha Cohen (silver medalist) and Irina Slutskaya (bronze medalist) by only a point after the short program.

Arakawa skated a clean free skate program with no falls and won over the judges for an eight-point win over Cohen and 10 points over Slutskaya. Arakawa set new personal scoring bests in overall, short and free skate at the Olympics.

The gold medal was Japan's first and only medal of the Olympics. It was Japan's second women's figure skating medal (Midori Ito won a silver at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France).

Japanese skating officials had to persuade Arakawa from retiring after she won the 2004 World Championship.

Despite finishing ninth at the 2005 World Championships Arakawa was determined to compete in Turin, Italy and end her final year on a positive note.

Most remarkable during Arakawa's path to her Olympic gold medal, was she also graduated from the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo. Few skaters around the world the caliber of Arakawa can claim that achievement.

Arakawa enjoys skating to classical music. Her Olympic programs are examples of her passion to that kind of music. She skated her short program of Fantasie Impromptu by Frederick Chopin and free skate to Violin Fantasy on the opera Trandot by Giacomo Puccini.

"I like to skate to music with a story," said Arakawa. "If you compare skating to ballet, there' a story you have to follow in ballet. But in skating, I can tell my own story by performing whatever feels best with the music."

Arakawa was destined to compete on the highest level. She landed her first triple-jump, a Salchow as an eight year old. At that time she was considered a child prodigy. Japanese figure skating called Arakawa "The Little Angel".

She won the national championship as a 19-year-old. That was three years previous to her competing in her first Olympics, in 1998 in Nagano as a 16 year old.

Arakawa begins a new era in figure skating career beginning with the Champions On Ice Tour.

"I'm glad that I can end my career feeling satisfied. I'm not leaving any regrets as I embark on a new road," Arakawa said.