is a Japanese former 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, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and choreographer. She is the 1994

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, the 1990 World Junior champion and the 1993 & 1994 Japanese national champion. She placed 7th at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

and 5th at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

Personal life

Yuka Sato was born in Tokyo to figure skating parents. Her father,

Nobuo Sato Nobuo (written: , , , , , in hiragana or in katakana) is a masculine, Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese basketball player *Nobuo Fujita (1911–1997), Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy *, J ...

, competed at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

and

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

while her mother, Kumiko Okawa, competed in the

and

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

. Her parents, as of 2011, live near

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

.Barnas, Jo-Ann.
Yuka Sato's plans on hold while Japan recovers

Archive
. ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

''. March 20, 2011. Retrieved on June 20, 2015
Article snippet
/ref> Sato is a graduate of

Hosei University is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan. The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha (, i.e. Tokyo association of law), established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō (, i.e. Tokyo school of law ...

. She was married to fellow figure skater

Jason Dungjen Jason Dungjen (born September 28, 1967) is an American figure skating coach and a former pair skater. With Kyoko Ina, he is a two-time Skate America silver medalist, a three-time Nations Cup medalist, and a two-time U.S. national champion. With ...

Career

Eligible career

In the 1988–89 season, Yuka Sato won the Japanese junior title to qualify for the 1989 World Junior Championships, where she placed 10th. She also qualified for Japan's senior championships, where she won the bronze medal behind

Midori Ito is a Japanese former figure skater. She is the 1989 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. She is the first woman to land a triple-triple jump combination and a triple Axel in competition. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, she bec ...

and Junko Yaginuma. Sato was taught by her parents in Japan until she was 16. Around 1989, she moved to Canada and joined

Peter Dunfield Peter Dunfield (c. 1931 – May 25, 2014) was a Canadian figure skater and coach. He competed in four skating, winning the 1949 North American silver medal, and single skating. He is best known for coaching Elizabeth Manley to the 1988 Olympi ...

, who coached her for the next five years. In the 1989–90 season, Sato was the Japanese junior champion for the second year in a row and the silver medalist on the senior level. She assigned to the World Junior Championships, where she won gold, and to the 1990 World Championships, where she placed 14th. In the 1990–91 season, Sato placed fifth at the 1990 NHK Trophy and at the

1990 Nations Cup The 1990 Bofrost Cup on Ice, Nations Cup was held in Gelsenkirchen on November 15–17. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of single skating, men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Results Men Ladies Pairs Ice d ...

. In the 1991–92 season, Sato won the bronze medal at the 1992 Skate America and her second silver medal at the Japanese Championships. She was sent to the

, where she placed seventh, and the 1992 World Championships, where she finished eighth. In the 1992–93 season, Sato defeated

Nancy Kerrigan Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is an American figure skating, figure skater and actress. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, 1991 World Championships and the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympic ...

and Chen Lu to win the 1992 Skate America. She won the silver medal at the 1992 NHK Trophy, gold at the Prague Skate, and gold at the Japanese Championships. She placed fourth at the 1993 World Championships. In the 1993–94 season, Sato won the bronze medal at the 1993 NHK Trophy and placed sixth at the pre-Olympic

Piruetten Piruetten was a senior international figure skating competition held in Hamar, Norway. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing. It later became a junior event held in some years as part of the ISU Junior Grand Prix s ...

competition in Norway. She won her second Japanese national title that season to qualify for the

and the 1994 World Championships. At the Olympics, she popped an intended triple

Lutz Lutz is a surname and given name, occasionally a short form of Ludwig. People with the name include: Surname *Adolfo Lutz (1855–1940), Brazilian physician *Aleda E. Lutz (1915–1944), American Army flight nurse * Alois Lutz, Austrian figure ...

in the short program and placed seventh in that segment of the competition. She completed six triple jumps in the free skate and finished fifth overall. All of the Olympic medalists withdrew from the 1994 World Championships, which were held in Japan. She placed first after the technical program, with

Surya Bonaly Surya Varuna Claudine Bonaly (born 15 December 1973) is a French-born retired competitive figure skater. She is a three-time World silver medalist (1993–1995), a five-time European champion (1991–1995), the 1991 World Junior Champion, and a ...

and Josee Chouinard in second and third, respectively. In the free skate, she was beaten by Bonaly 8–1 in the technical mark but won the presentation mark 8–1, and became the World champion by a 5–4 vote between the judges.

Later career

Following her win at the 1994 World Championships, Sato retired from amateur skating and began performing professionally in ice shows, including Stars on Ice. She won the 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2002 World Professional Championships and placed second at that competition in 1996 and 1998. Sato also performed as a

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

with

. She is credited as a stunt performer in the 2007 figure skating comedy motion picture ''

Blades of Glory ''Blades of Glory'' is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, written by Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder with Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, William Fich ...

.'' Sato has worked as a

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for Japanese television. She commentated for

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

during the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

, including the broadcast of

Shizuka Arakawa is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic champion and the 2004 World champion. Arakawa is the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in fi ...

's winning performance. She is a coach and choreographer at the Detroit Skating Club in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

. She has coached

Jeremy Abbott Jeremy Abbott (born June 5, 1985) is a former American figure skater. He is the 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time (2007, 2011) Four Continents bronze medalist, and a four-time (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014) U.S. national champion. He repres ...

Alissa Czisny Alissa Czisny (born June 25, 1987) is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time Skate Canada champion (2005, 2010), the 2011 Skate America champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion ( ...

Valentina Marchei Valentina Marchei (born 23 May 1986) is an Italian retired pair and single figure skater. As a singles skater, she is a five-time Italian national champion (2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014). Her highest ISU Championship placements were 4th at the ...

, and choreographed for

Takahiko Kozuka is a former competitive Japanese figure skater. He is the 2011 World silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final medalist, a two-time Four Continents medalist, and the 2010–11 Japanese national champion. He is also the 2006 World Junior ...

Competitive highlights

References

External links

Pairs on Ice: Yuka Sato & Jason Dungjen
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Yuka 1973 births Living people Japanese female single skaters Japanese female pair skaters Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Japan Figure skating commentators Sportspeople from Tokyo World Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skating choreographers