Gold Medal Win by Shizuka Arakawa at Torino Winter Olympics Signals Women's Equality in Japan

New Japanese Ambassador of Ladies' Figure Skating Had Gold Mettle!

For 24 year old Shizuka Arakawa there was no disapproving buzz from the Torino audience, no merely polite clapping as she took her place on the medal stand. No disbelieving and teary skaters and iron-faced coaches stalking off. No overwhelming support of public favorites while medalists inside the Palavela second-guessed their scores.

Olympic figure skating, with its new standards of judging for fairness to all, has made good on its promise and delivered an experience for skaters and audiences alike that underscores the values of the Olympic games, proving once again that the final weight should be placed on the value of the athletes’ hard work and the achievement being honored there. Now, at the Olympics, the winners win.

As was seen in the pairs skating competitions. When Chinese silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao(“Two Zhangs beats a pair of Yanks”) fell down and got up and finished their program, a new era was already born. The world is ready for the sport its enthusiasts were always fans of. The sport was honored by judges’ recognition of all the elements, not just the flashy jumps and the tricky choreography. We are seeing a different calibre of athlete. And the audiences are responding.

The real news from Torino is that in women’s figure skating, not only did the best athlete win, but she won significantly. Decisively. Unquestionably. In the kind of Olympic performance that lasts a lifetime.

While the sports press foamed over at Michelle Kwan and public attention was focused on her golden ticket to the 2006 Olympics, another drama was taking place. Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa, who had dropped to ninth at the World Championship of Ladies’ Figure Skating last year, had wondered if her brightest moment was having won the title in 2004.

Younger skaters were coming up: Miki Ando, the junior world champion and the first woman to do a quadruple jump; Grand Prix champion Mao Asada, whose at 15, was prevented by age alone from coming to Torino. 24 is donkey’s years in figure skating. Was it too late?