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Friday, 24 February 2006 |
Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa wins Olympic gold
Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa amazed favourites Sasha Cohen
and Irina Slutskaya by winning Olympic gold as she climbed from third
to first on a night her main opponents failed to impress at the
Palavela skating rink.
American Sasha Cohen, the leader from the short programme, fell on the
ice twice during her routine and finished in second place and Russian
favourite Irina Slutskaya, 27, who was silver medallist in 2002, also
fell as she took the bronze.
Irina Slutskaya had been hoping to finish a golden sweep of the figure
skating medals for Russia, as well as becoming her nation's first ever
Olympic ladies' champion, but although she is a two-time world
champion, she made a costly mistake halfway through her programme and
missed her chance of clenching a fairytale comeback gold three years
after having found out she was suffering a serious heart problem.
Sasha Cohen, 21, took her first Olympic medal in four years after
finishing fourth in Salt Lake City, and her medal was well-deserved
after recovering from her two falls earlier on.
"I was very disappointed with my skate," Sasha Cohen said.
"I definitely gave 100% in my effort, I gave it my all. So I have no regrets with that. But it just wasn't my night."
There were no doubts who the star of the night was, however, due to the stunning performance 24-year-old Shizuka Arakawa gave.
Behind Sasha Cohen by only a point after the short programme, Shizuka
Arakawa scored a personal best 125.32 points with her free routine, a
dazzling display, which was set to Puccini's Turandot.
Shizuka Arakawa ‘s total of 191.34 left her a massive 7.98 points clear
of her rivals and earned the Japanese side their first medal of the
Turin Games.
It was an incredible return to form for Shizuka Arakawa, who only
finished ninth at last year's world championship when defending the
title she had won in 2004.
Shizuka Arakawa said the gold medal had proved she was right sticking
with the sport, after her 2004 performance had left her on the verge of
retiring from skating.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 March 2006 )
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