TURIN, Italy -- After winning the world championships in
2004, Shizuka Arakawa was ready to quit figure skating altogether.
She was demoralized by injuries, problems with her skates and
homesickness from training overseas.
"Retirement crossed my mind," she said. "It was very
difficult to motivate myself. It took a full year for me to get it
back."
But Arakawa is back -- with a vengeance.
She's leading a trio of Japanese women figure skaters who could
well be vying against each other for places on the podium when the
Olympic competition begins later this week. And they might, just
maybe, even give reigning world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia
a race for the gold.
Japan has yet to win a medal in these Olympics, and many of its
top contenders have already fallen, making the performance of the
figure skaters that much more important.
Joining Arakawa is Fumie Suguri, a five-time Japanese national
champion and two-time bronze medalist at the world championships,
and teenager Miki Ando, the only woman to land a quadruple jump in
competition.
All three have placed in the top 10 at the world championships
the last two years, an accomplishment not even skating powerhouses
such as the United States or Russia can claim. And though she
didn't make the team, the only woman to beat Slutskaya in the last
two years was Japan's Mao Asada, who at 15 is too young to compete.
"There's a lot of depth in the Japanese women's team," said
Carol Heiss Jenkins, Ando's coach. "They're all three different
skaters. But they have a lot of talent."
That talent has been on display since the team moved down to
Turin to practice after training for more than a week in
Courmayeur, a secluded resort in the Italian Alps.
The 24-year-old Arakawa, who has recently changed the music for
both her short and free programs, has landed repeated triple
combinations in practice. The 25-year-old Suguri has shown off her
trademark grace and passionate expression. Ando, the only member of
the team without Olympic experience, has been nailing her quads
repeatedly.
If she does that in her Olympic program -- and she says she is
going to try -- it would be a first.
Ando, the 2004 junior world champion, is the only female to do a
quadruple salchow in competition. She did it in December 2002, when
she was 14. The last one she landed in competition was at the
Japanese nationals in 2003.
"Whether I make it or not, I think it's important to try,
especially in a big event like this," she said.
The three will be dealing with the added pressure of the high
hopes of their nation.
As of Sunday, with the games halfway over, Turin was shaping up
to be one of the worst Winter Games ever for Japan, which has won
at least one medal in every Winter Olympics since 1980 in Lake
Placid.
Even snowboarder Melo Imai, dubbed a "sure bet" medalist by
Japanese Olympic officials, crashed out -- she had to be taken from
the halfpipe by helicopter to a hospital. And, unlike the Summer
Games, there's no judo to fall back on.
"Every day I pray for one of my teammates to win a medal,"
Suguri said. "But I think there is more pressure on the officials
and coaches than on me. The only thing I need to do is skate my
best."
Arakawa and Suguri are used to Olympic stress.
Arakawa first represented Japan when she was just 16 at the
Nagano Games eight years ago, and placed 13th. She placed second in
Japan's nationals in 2002, but wasn't picked for the Olympic team
for Salt Lake City. Suguri placed fifth in Salt Lake.
Although she didn't make the world team until 2003, Arakawa won
the world title in 2004 with an astonishing display of jumping that
included a pair of triple-triple-doubles and a triple-triple in the
opening 30 seconds.
That dethroned Michelle Kwan as world champion.
"My hope is that I will be able to do a routine that people
will want to see all over again," she said.
Ando, meanwhile, said she wasn't feeling any pressure at all.
"My dream was to come to the Olympics, so I'm happy. I'm not
feeling the pressure and I'm enjoying skating."
Even so, when asked by a Japanese reporter at a news conference
if she would dedicate her performance to her father, who died when
she was a child, Ando began to cry and was unable to answer.
Team officials led her away.