The Japan Skating Federation (JSF) elected former Winter Olympic women's figure skating champion Shizuka Arakawa as its vice president on Wednesday.

Arakawa, who won Japan's only gold medal of the 2006 Turin Olympics, has been a director at the JSF since 2012. Seiko Hashimoto was voted in for a fifth term as president.

The 32-year-old did not attend Wednesday's board meeting but Hashimoto said, "She (Arakawa) is able to make level-headed decisions and the federation must nurture her."

Arakawa made her Winter Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano Games and became the third Japanese to win a world title at the 2004 world championships.

After retiring from competition in 2006, the Miyagi Prefecture native turned pro to perform in ice shows and has been working as a television analyst. She got married in December 2013 and announced she was pregnant in April.