Shizuka Arakawa of Japan performs during the Women's Free Skate in Turin, Italy during the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006. (Xinhua photo)

TURIN, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Shizuka Arakawa of Japan upheld an Olympic free skating tradition, toppling the favorites as she overshadowed Irina Slutskaya of Russia and Sasha Cohen of the United States to win Asia's first Olympic gold in figure skating here on Thursday.

    The Japanese skater who ranked third after the short program, surged ahead to leapfrog early pace setters Cohen and Slutskaya with a mesmerizing free program, storming over silver medalist Cohen by 7.98 points, and Slutskaya 9.9 points.

    "I won't think about anything. I am just happy with the medal," Slutskaya said at the press conference.

    Slutskaya, the silver medalist in the Salt Lake City Games, conceded to the bronze medal this time, failing to complete Russia's sweeping of all four figure skating titles at the Games. Her compatriots have earlier won the pairs, the men's and the ice dance.

    "I hope this will be an inspiration for the future generation of skaters," Arakawa said.

    "I cannot believe I can win the gold. I made a mistake in the program but I could skate with pleasure. I think I will realize that I have won a gold in the next or three days," she added.

    "As I was third in the short program I was hoping to win a medal. I force myself no to think about it and I'm really, really surprised."

    Arakawa, the world champion in 2004, was the 21st to compete among the 24 skaters. She started with a flawless triple lutz-triple loop, a triple salchow-double toeloop as well as beautiful flying camel spin and an amazing triple salchow-double toeloop-double loop.

    The Japanese, who came here with renewed energy after switching coaches to Nikolai Morozov of Russia last year, earned 125.32 points in the free skating for a total of 191.34 points.

    Slutskaya and Cohen were regarded as the top favorites to win the gold medal but actually Cohen quit from the gold hunt too early as she failed her triple lutz and triple flip and fell on the ice in landing. She knew she was far away from the gold and smiled stiffly after the free skating.

    Cohen had 116.63 points for a total of 183.36 points.

    "I tried my best and was over my feet on the jump. I was proud to come back from it and it was really hard," Cohen said after the competition.

    "I felt bittersweet. I tried hard and I had no regrets. For that performance, silver is generous," she added.

    "The jump started easy and I was going well. When I got to the last three jumps, my coordination was somewhere else. I didn't get the height I needed."

    "I have changed a lot in four year. Now I'm focusing more on the whole process and try to enjoy it,"

    "I know that a medal is nice and people will like it when I go home. For me, the enjoyment of the whole process is the most important thing."

    Slutskaya, current world champion, was the last to skate but obviously took too much pressure on her shoulders. Though she opened her program with a nice triple lutz, Slutskaya had a shaky triple salchow, and fell on the ice when landing a triple toeloop.

    Though smiling in her face, Slutskaya finally got 114.74 pointsfor a total of 181.44 points, 9.9 points away from the gold medal.

    "I'm happy because I got another medal. You must understand it's a competition, it's a sport. It's nice and anything can happen,"said Slutskaya.

    "That's life. I can't change anything." Enditem