(born March 28, 1985) is a Japanese figure skating choreographer and retired competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. She is the 2012 World Championships bronze medalist, a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

silver,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

bronze), a two-time

Four Continents Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Africa in the south, America in the west, Asia in the east, a ...

silver medalist (2010, 2013), the

2007 Winter Universiade The 2007 Winter Universiade, the XXIII Winter Universiade, took place in Turin, Italy from January 17 to 27, 2007. Opening ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the XXIII Winter Universiade Torino 2007 was held with a cast of acrobats, circus perform ...

champion, and the 2013 Japanese national champion. She placed eighth at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

Personal life

Suzuki was born on March 28, 1985, in

Toyohashi is a Cities of Japan, city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefec ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

. She became engaged to a former classmate in June 2016 and married him on February 1, 2017. They divorced in 2018.

Career

Akiko Suzuki and Hiroshi Nagakubo Cup of China 2010

Suzuki trained in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, Japan. At the same time, she worked for Toho Real Estate, which has its own skating rink.

Early career

Suzuki won the bronze medal at the 2001–02 Junior Grand Prix Final. After a successful junior career, she was hampered by her struggles with

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

which began at age 18 when she left home for university. Her weight having fallen to 32 kg, she was unable to jump and missed the entire 2003–2004 season. It took her a year to gain back the weight she had lost.

2004–2005 to 2008–2009

Suzuki returned to competitive skating in the 2004–2005 season after being inspired by Shizuka Arakawa's victory at the 2004 World Championships. She began working with coach Hiroshi Nagakubo in the early 2000s. She had a breakthrough in 2007–2008, winning several events, and achieving her highest finish at Japanese nationals since 2002. She consequently received her first senior Grand Prix assignment in 2008–2009, and won the silver medal at the 2008 NHK Trophy. That same season, she also won the 2008 Finlandia Trophy and finished 8th at the 2009 Four Continents Championships.

2009–2010 season

Suzuki appeared at two Grand Prix events, winning the 2009 Cup of China and finishing 5th at the 2009 Skate Canada International. She qualified to the 2009–10 Grand Prix Final, where she won the bronze medal. She was awarded a place on the Japanese Olympic team after she placed second at the 2009–10 Japan Championships. She was also assigned to compete at the 2010 Four Continents Championships, where she won the silver medal. At the Olympics, she finished 8th, and was later 11th at the 2010 World Championships – her first senior Worlds.

2010–2011 season

Suzuki opened her season with gold at the 2010 Finlandia Trophy. She received silver at both of her Grand Prix events, the

2010 Cup of Russia The 2010 Rostelecom Cup, Cup of Russia was the fifth event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on November 18–21. Me ...

and the

2010 Cup of China The 2010 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 4–7. Medals were a ...

. She qualified for her second consecutive Grand Prix Final, this time finishing fourth. A fourth-place finish at the national championships left her off the Worlds team, but she was selected to go to the

2011 Four Continents Championships The 2011 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships was an international figure skating competition in the 2010–11 figure skating season, 2010–11 season. It was held at the Taipei Arena in Taipei, Taiwan on February 15–20. Medals were aw ...

, where she finished 7th.

2011–2012 season

Jielbeaumadier Akiko Suzuki WSFC Nice 2012

Competing again on the Grand Prix series, Suzuki won the silver medal at the 2011 Skate Canada International and the gold medal at the 2011 NHK Trophy. Her placements qualified her for the 2011 Grand Prix Final where she won the silver medal. She won the silver behind

Mao Asada is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics - Ladies' singles, 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Figure Skating Championships, World champion (2008, 2010, 2014), a three-t ...

at the 2011–12 Japan Championships. At the 2012 World Championships, Suzuki won the bronze medal, becoming the oldest ladies' single skater to medal at the event since Maria Butyrskaya. At the 2012 ISU World Team Trophy, she won the ladies' event, defeating World champion Carolina Kostner. Team Japan also won the event overall.

2012–2013 season

Suzuki received the same Grand Prix assignments as the previous season. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Skate Canada International and the 2012 NHK Trophy, qualifying her for the 2012–13 Grand Prix Final. At the final, she placed third in the short program. She fell twice in the free skating, finishing third overall. In December 2012, Suzuki said that the 2013–14 season would be her last. She finished fourth at the 2012–13 Japan Championships behind

Satoko Miyahara is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2015 World silver medalist, the 2018 World bronze medalist, the 2016 Four Continents champion, a two-time Four Continents silver medalist (2014, 2015), a two-time Grand Prix Final silver medali ...

. Suzuki won the silver medal at the 2013 Four Continents Championships, as part of a Japanese sweep of the ladies' event with teammates

and Kanako Murakami taking the gold and bronze medal respectively. She placed twelfth at the 2013 World Championships. At the 2013 World Team Trophy, Suzuki placed first; Team Japan placed third overall. Her free skating score of 133.02 and her combined total score of 199.58 are her personal best scores.

2013–2014 season

Suzuki began her season at the 2013 Finlandia Trophy, where she won the silver medal behind

Yulia Lipnitskaya Yulia Vyacheslavovna Lipnitskaya (also spelled Julia Lipnitskaia; , ; born 5 June 1998) is a Russian retired competitive figure skater. She was part of the Russian team that won the Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Team trophy, 2 ...

. She won another silver at the 2013 Skate Canada International, again behind Lipnitskaya. At the 2013 NHK Trophy, she earned the bronze medal after placing second in the short and fourth in the free skating. Suzuki won gold at the 2013–14 Japan Championships, ahead of Kanako Murakami and

. She placed second in the short program behind Asada, but rebounded to first place after winning the free skating. She skated two clean programs and earned the highest free skating and total score to date in the ladies' event at the Japan Figure Skating Championships. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

, Suzuki competed in the free skating portion of the figure skating team event, placing fourth in that segment; Japan finished fifth overall. She went on to place eighth in the ladies' singles competition. At the 2014 World Championships, she placed fourth in the short program with a personal best score, eighth in the free skating, and sixth overall. Following the World Championships, Suzuki announced her retirement from competitive skating.

Post-competitive career

Following her retirement in 2014, Suzuki began working as a choreographer and teaching with her longtime coach, Hiroshi Nagakubo, at the Howa Sports Land Skating Club in the

. She credited figure skating choreographers

Shae-Lynn Bourne Shae-Lynn Bourne (born January 24, 1976) is a Canadian ice dancer and choreographer. In 2003, she and partner Victor Kraatz became the first North American ice dancers to win a World Championship. They competed at three Winter Olympic Games, pl ...

and Pasquale Camerlengo for inspiring her to start working as a choreographer. Suzuki was also a main cast member of the annual touring ice show

Fantasy on Ice is an annual touring ice show in Japan produced by CIC Co., Ltd. The show emerged from the "Philippe Candeloro Japan Tour 2001", named after retired French figure skater Philippe Candeloro, and was held under the name "Fantasy on Ice" the followi ...

, having participated in all editions from 2010 to 2019. In 2022 she did the commentary for the live broadcast at the tour stop in

amongst others. In 2024 she provided motion capture and choreography for the anime adaptation of

Medalist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

. Suzuki has choreographed for: * Yuna Aoki * Mone Chiba * Maria Egawa * Rika Hongo * Moa Iwano * Yuma Kagiyama * Lim Eun-soo * Yura Matsuda * Miyu Nakashio * Mai Mihara * Yuka Nagai * Ami Nakai * Rin Nitaya *

Kaori Sakamoto is a Japanese figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, a Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2022 Olympic team event silver medalist, a three-time World Figure Ska ...

* Shin Ji-a * Shun Sato * Yuna Shiraiwa * Rion Sumiyoshi * Yo Takagi * Tatsuya Tsuboi * Kaoruko Wada * Sota Yamamoto * Mako Yamashita * Yuhana Yokoi

Programs

Post-2014

Pre-2014

Competitive highlights

* GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Small medals for short program and free skating awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only. * – This is a team event; medals are awarded for the team results only. ** – team result ** – personal/individual result

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Akiko 1985 births Living people Japanese female single skaters Figure skaters at the 2007 Winter Universiade Sportspeople from Toyohashi Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Olympic figure skaters for Japan Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics World Figure Skating Championships medalists Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating FISU World University Games gold medalists for Japan Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade Fantasy on Ice main cast members Figure skating choreographers 21st-century Japanese sportswomen