is a Japanese professional marathon runner and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In June 2025 she was elected president of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.(26 June 2025). Olympian Yuko Arimori picked as 1st female chief of Japan athletics ass'n. Kyodo News. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
Career Arimori competed for Japan in the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain in the marathon where she won the silver medal with a time of 2:32:49, eight seconds behind Russian Valentina Yegorova who ran the race in 2:32:41. This hard-fought race was the closest finishing time in Olympic history for men or women at that time. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Arimori returned to the Olympic marathon, where she won the bronze medal and finished behind Valentina Yegorova for a second time. Yegorova ran the race in 2:28:05. Arimori's time was 2:28:39. Although both runners ran four minutes faster than their previous Olympic race, they were beaten back by Ethiopian runner Fatuma Roba, who completed the race and won the gold medal with a time of 2:26:05.
Arimori was the first woman granted professional status by the Japanese Amateur Athletic Federation (JAAF), the nation's governing track and field association. She was granted this status in 1996, following her second and final appearance at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Achievements 1990Osaka International Ladies MarathonOsaka, Japan6thMarathon2:32:511991Osaka International Ladies MarathonOsaka, Japan 2ndMarathon2:28:0119911991 World Championships in AthleticsTokyo, Japan4thMarathon2:31:0819921992 Summer OlympicsBarcelona, Spain 2ndMarathon2:32:491995Hokkaido MarathonSapporo, Japan 1stMarathon2:29:1719961996 Summer OlympicsAtlanta, United States 3rdMarathon2:28:391999Boston MarathonBoston, United States 3rdMarathon2:26:392000Osaka International Ladies MarathonOsaka, Japan9thMarathon2:31:222000New York City MarathonNew York City, United States10thMarathon2:31:122001Gold Coast MarathonGold Coast, Australia 1stMarathon2:35:402001Tokyo International Women's MarathonTokyo, Japan10thMarathon2:31:002007Tokyo MarathonTokyo, Japan5thMarathon2:52:45
Awards
Arimori was voted Japanese Athlete of the Year in 1992 and 1996.
Personal life Arimori was born on December 17, 1966, in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
Prior to the 1992 Olympics, Arimori participated in altitude training in Colorado. She married Gabriel Wilson in January 1998 in Boulder, Colorado, United States. They separated one month after their marriage, and Wilson revealed his extensive debts and previous homosexual tendencies, admitting "I was gay", at a press conference. They officially divorced in July 2011.
See also Angkor Wat Marathon, a marathon introduced in 1996 by Yuko Arimori in Cambodia
References
External links
IAAF profile Official blog