Give yourself the gift of art and beauty

At the recent Ice Wars, Olympic gold medal winner Shizuka Arakawa skated two of the best programs of her career. Arakawa does not have a chest of major event gold medals like Michelle Kwan or Irina Slutskaya. She won worlds in 2004, and the Olympic gold this year; Japan didn't even enter her in the 2002 Olympics. Her name will most likely never be a household word. Her career blossomed slowly over time, and she retired, this year, at its peak. However, in my opinion, Arakawa's combination of jumping skill, speed, amazing flexibility, and stunning artistic grace make her one of the all-time great female figure skaters. She doesn't have the titles (not unlike the brilliant Sasha Cohen, but she has all of the elements of greatness.

Arakawa is so flexible, that during her Olympic free skate, she held her left leg straight up during a spiral, then let go of it, and the foot remained up. Her Ina Bauer is probably the greatest that has ever been performed. Cool Beauty has retired from competition, but long may she skate.

There is no short program and free skate combination at the Ice Wars, nor are there technical requirements. The skaters do what amounts to two free skates, making them as technically difficult as they wish. Here is Arakawa's first brilliant skate, and here is her second. Enjoy.