Arakawa tops Cohen, Slutskaya

Shizuka Arakawa is the first Japanese woman to win Olympic gold.
TURIN, Italy (AP) -- Shizuka Arakawa clutched the Olympic gold medal in her hand, refusing to let it go lest it all be a mistake.
It was hers, all right. And Japan's.
A surprise winner from a surprise country.
"I still can't believe this," said Arakawa, whose gold in women's figure skating Thursday night gave Japan its first medal of these games.
For Sasha Cohen and Irina Slutskaya, gold was theirs to grab but got away. Falls and mistakes pulled Cohen down to silver and left Slutskaya with a bronze. They knew they were lucky to have anything. Arakawa finished with 191.34 points, almost eight points ahead of Cohen. Slutskaya was third at 181.44.
"It's bittersweet," Cohen said. "I tried hard. I have no regrets."
First to do it
Arakawa is the first Japanese woman to win Olympic gold, and she has lifted a burden for those who will come after her.
When Midori Ito finished second to Kristi Yamaguchi in 1992, Ito apologized, fearing she had disappointed her country. No one had come close since then, and pressure mounted with every passing games.
Arakawa dropped to ninth at worlds last year, after having won the title in 2004. Worse, she had to watch while the next generation emerged: Miki Ando, the junior world champion and the first woman to do a quadruple jump; Grand Prix champion Mao Asada, whose age, 15, was the only thing that kept her away from Turin.
In November, Arakawa called Nikolai Morozov and asked if he'd be her coach. She wanted a change -- her coach, her costumes, her programs. It had to be drastic if she were to have any chance.
"Yes, of course I was surprised," Morozov said. "I thought she could medal. But I didn't think she would win gold."
But Arakawa has the determination that turns contenders into champions.
She landed five triple jumps, three in combination, but it was her beauty, elegance and unparalleled musicality that set her apart. She didn't show much emotion on her face, but she spoke it with every other part of her body.
Arakawa's face lit up when she finished. When she saw the marks that moved her into first place, she pumped her fists in a rare display of exuberance and flashed a "V" for victory sign.
Cohen's silver is another reminder of potential squandered.
The successor to Michelle Kwan as national champion has all the makings of a superstar, but she can't break through when the stakes are highest:
The 2003 and 2004 national championships. The 2004 worlds. Even the Salt Lake City Olympics. She went into the free skate with a chance to medal, and she faltered at all of them.
This event was supposed to erase those demons. In first place after the short program, she needed only four minutes to join Tara Lipinski (1998) and Sarah Hughes (2002) as Olympic champion.
"No, I didn't cry," Cohen said. "I don't usually cry unless I'm angry. I'm not really angry, more of a letdown. Ultimately, it's four minutes of one day in my life."
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