Shizuka Arakawa was elected to the Figure Skating Hall of Fame on April 17, 2018. She graduated from Waseda University with a degree in education in 2004 and was a member of the skating club at Waseda University. She became Japan’s first gold medalist in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in 2006 in Torino, Italy.
Arakawa is the third Japanese in the Hall of Fame after Midori Ito, a silver medalist at the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, and Nobuo Sato who has trained many top athletes.
Arakawa serves as vice president of the Japan Skating Association, while actively performing as a professional skater.