Yuko Arimori

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.

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

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.