Chizuru Arai

3.1. Early Professional Period (2012-2014)

After joining Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance in 2012, Arai initially found it challenging to keep up with the significantly higher intensity of training compared to her high school days. However, she gradually found her rhythm. In September, she finished second at the All Japan Junior Judo Weight Category Championships, losing to Kana Osanai in the final. Her first international victory came at the Asian Junior Championships, where she won a gold medal. In November, she secured a third-place finish at the Kodokan Cup All Japan Judo Weight Category Championships. Later that year, at the World Cup Jeju (now a Grand Prix event), Arai claimed her first senior international title by defeating South Korea's Kim Seong-yeon by two shidos in the final, indicating her steady improvement.

In June 2013, Arai was part of the winning team at the All Japan Business Group Judo Team Tournament. In July, she took a silver medal at the Grand Slam Moscow, losing to Bernadette Graf of Austria in the final. Building on this, she won the All Japan Junior Championships in September, defeating Azusa Furuya by waza-ari. October saw her compete at the World Junior Championships in Ljubljana, where she finished second individually, losing to Barbara Matić of Croatia by Osoto Gari in the final. In the team event, despite her loss to Margaux Pinot of France in the final, her team secured the gold medal. Arai was deeply disappointed by her individual silver, especially as her teammates, Shiori Yoshimura and Nami Inamori, both won gold in their respective categories. In November, she placed second at the Kodokan Cup, losing to Karen Nun Ira. A significant breakthrough came at the Grand Slam Tokyo in December, where she defeated reigning world champion Yuli Alvear of Colombia by Katagatame in the semi-final, and then secured the gold medal by overcoming world number one Kim Polling of the Netherlands with a Uchimata for yuko. She expressed her enjoyment of competing against strong opponents and her determination to achieve results for her Olympic aspirations.

The 2014 season began with Arai finishing third at the Grand Prix Düsseldorf in February. However, she suffered an early defeat in the All Japan Selected Weight Category Championships in April, losing in the first round and missing out on a spot for the World Championships. In the Empress's Cup All Japan Women's Judo Championships, she finished fifth after losing to Ai Tachimoto. In July, she placed third at the Grand Slam Tyumen, defeating Chen Fei of China by Uchimata for the bronze medal. At the Asian Games in September, Arai earned a silver medal in the individual -70 kg category, losing to Kim Seong-yeon in the final. However, she avenged this loss in the team event final, defeating Kim Seong-yeon by a shido to help her team secure the gold medal. She finished the year with a second-place finish at the Kodokan Cup in November, losing to Haruka Tachimoto in Golden Score, and an early exit from the Grand Slam Tokyo in December.

3.2. Rise to World Prominence (2015-2017)

The year 2015 marked a significant rise in Chizuru Arai's prominence. She started strongly by winning the European Open Sofia in February, achieving all victories by ippon, including a final win against Margaux Pinot. She continued this form at the Grand Prix Düsseldorf, where she won gold, defeating Sandra Dietrich of Germany in the final after winning all prior matches by ippon. In April, despite finishing second at the Selected Weight Category Championships to Haruka Tachimoto, her consistent international results led to her selection for the World Championships. In May, she took a bronze medal at the World Masters Rabat.

However, the World Championships in August proved to be a challenging experience. Arai finished fifth after a controversial semi-final loss to Gevrise Emane of France, where a yuko she scored was later overturned by the jury, leading to her defeat. She then lost the bronze medal match to Fanny-Estelle Posvite of France. This result made her the only female Japanese judoka not to medal at the championships. Visibly emotional, Arai stated she was "powerless" but vowed to become an Olympic representative. She rebounded in the World Team Championships, winning all three of her matches, including a victory over Katarzyna Klys of Poland in the final, contributing to her team's gold medal. In October, she secured another bronze at the Grand Slam Abu Dhabi. Arai concluded 2015 by winning the Grand Slam Tokyo for the second time, overcoming a tough final against Yoko Ono, which she won by hansoku-make in Golden Score after tying the match in the closing seconds.

In February 2016, Arai finished second at the Grand Prix Düsseldorf, losing to Bernadette Graf in the final. In April, she again placed second at the Selected Weight Category Championships, losing to Haruka Tachimoto. This result meant she was not selected for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Despite this setback, she continued to perform well, contributing to her team's gold medal at the Business Group Team Tournament in June. In July, she won the Grand Slam Tyumen, defeating Valentina Maltseva of Russia in the final. However, her year ended with a first-round loss at the Kodokan Cup in November and a second-place finish at the Grand Slam Tokyo in December, where she lost to Saki Niizoe.

Arai's resurgence in 2017 was remarkable. In February, she won the Grand Slam Paris, defeating Kelita Zupancic by Tateshiho Gatame in the final. This victory propelled her to the world number one ranking for the first time in nearly four years, a feat not achieved by a Japanese female 70kg judoka since 2013. She followed this with another gold at the Grand Prix Düsseldorf, defeating Marie-Ève Gahié of France. Arai expressed her composure in matches and her determination to grow and get closer to the Tokyo Olympics, with the World Championships gold as her immediate goal. In April, she won the Selected Weight Category Championships for the first time, securing her place at the World Championships. In June, she contributed to her team's performance at the Business Group Team event with two wins and one draw.

The pinnacle of her 2017 season came at the World Championships in August. She endured a nearly nine-minute quarter-final battle against Maria Portela of Brazil before winning by shido. In the semi-final, she defeated Rio Olympic silver medalist Yuli Alvear by waza-ari. In the final, Arai submitted Maria Perez of Puerto Rico with an Okuri-Eri-Jime (sliding lapel choke), becoming the first Japanese world champion in the 70kg category since her coach, Masae Ueno, in 2003. This victory was a testament to her efforts to incorporate right-handed techniques and rigorous strength training after missing the Rio Olympics. Arai then contributed to Japan's gold medal in the World Team Championships, defeating Maria Portela in the final. Following her World Championships win, she regained her world number one ranking and was honored with the Citizen's Honorary Award by her hometown of Yorii. Despite her success, she ended the year with a second-place finish at the Grand Slam Tokyo, losing to Yoko Ono by hansoku-make, expressing dissatisfaction with the quick shido calls. Nevertheless, she finished the year as the world number one in her category, earning a 50.00 K USD bonus from the IJF.

3.3. Consecutive World Titles and Olympic Qualification (2018-2020)

Chizuru Arai continued her strong performance into 2018. In February, she took second place at the Grand Slam Paris, losing to Sally Conway of Great Britain in the final after being countered by a Ura Nage into a Yoko Shiho Gatame. In April, she again finished second at the Selected Weight Category Championships, losing to Yoko Ono. Despite her disappointment, she was selected for the World Championships. In May, she earned a bronze medal at the Grand Prix Hohhot, recovering from a hansoku-make loss to Gemma Howell in the quarter-finals to defeat Maria Portela for bronze. In June, she was a key player in her team's victory at the Business Group Team Tournament, winning all her matches, including a comeback victory over Miku Tashiro.

The 2018 World Championships in Baku saw Arai defend her title, achieving her second consecutive gold medal. She defeated Yuli Alvear in the quarter-finals and Maria Perez in the semi-finals, notably continuing to fight and win against Perez even after her contact lens came out. In the final, she defeated Marie-Ève Gahié of France with a combination of Uchimata and Yoko Shiho Gatame, overcoming an early waza-ari deficit. After her victory, she expressed her determination to "keep fighting until I get what I want most." In November, she won the Grand Slam Osaka for the third time, defeating Anna Bernholm of Sweden by waza-ari, which automatically qualified her for the 2019 World Championships. For the second consecutive year, Arai finished as the world number one in her category, earning a 10.00 K USD bonus from the IJF.

In 2019, Arai did not compete in the Selected Weight Category Championships as her spot for the World Championships was already secured. In May, she won the Grand Slam Baku with all ippon victories, including a win over Anna Bernholm in the final. However, in June, her team placed second at the Business Group Team Tournament, partly due to a draw with Yoko Ono and a loss by teammate Nami Nabekura. At the World Championships held in Tokyo in August, Arai's bid for a third consecutive title ended in the third round, where she lost to Barbara Timo of Portugal by harai-makikomi. She expressed deep disappointment, questioning her efforts: "What am I doing?" She later contributed to Japan's gold medal in the World Team Championships, defeating Marie-Ève Gahié in the final. In November, she finished third at the Grand Slam Osaka, and in December, she also earned a bronze medal at the World Masters Qingdao, where she notably defeated both Barbara Timo and world champion Marie-Ève Gahié before losing to Sanne van Dijke.

The year 2020 began with a strong performance at the Grand Slam Düsseldorf in February, where Arai won gold, defeating Gabriela Willems of Belgium in Golden Score. This victory, combined with her consistent results, led to her official nomination for the Tokyo Olympics by a unanimous decision of the Japanese strengthening committee. Despite the one-year postponement of the Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the All Japan Judo Federation confirmed that all already-nominated athletes would retain their qualification spots, citing the difficult selection process they had already undergone. Arai expressed her resolve, stating that the postponement was a "trial" but an opportunity for her to grow physically and mentally.

3.4. Tokyo Olympics and Retirement (2021)

In 2021, Chizuru Arai returned to competition after a year-long break, winning the Grand Slam Tashkent in March by defeating Barbara Matić in the final. In May, she finished third at the Grand Slam Kazan, losing to Madina Taimazova of Russia in the semi-final but recovering to win the bronze medal match against Hilde Jager of the Netherlands.

The culmination of her career came at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held at the Nippon Budokan in July. In the individual -70 kg category, she defeated Giovanna Scoccimarro of Germany in the quarter-finals. Her semi-final match against Madina Taimazova was a grueling 16-minute, 41-second contest that Arai eventually won by Okuri-Eri-Jime. In the final, she defeated Michaela Polleres of Austria by waza-ari, securing her first Olympic gold medal. Arai described her victory as "joyful," acknowledging the many times she almost gave up but persevered. Her gold medal marked the first individual Olympic gold for an athlete from Saitama Prefecture.

Arai also competed in the inaugural Olympic mixed team event. She contributed to her team's path to the final by defeating Giovanna Scoccimarro and Madina Taimazova in earlier rounds. However, in the final against France, she lost to the 63 kg gold medalist, Clarisse Agbegnenou, and the Japanese team ultimately secured a silver medal.

In September 2021, Arai announced her retirement from professional judo, submitting her resignation as a強化指定選手 (strengthening designation athlete) to the All Japan Judo Federation. In an online press conference on September 10, she reflected on her career, stating that "nothing was easy, and the path was truly steep, but the sense of accomplishment I gained was immense." She emphasized that judo helped her grow and taught her the importance of perseverance, which she intends to apply in her next chapter. In October, she began her post-retirement journey by becoming a coach for the All Japan Junior judo team.

5.1. Major Competition Results

5.2. World Rankings

5.3. Head-to-head Records against Notable Opponents

5.4. IJF World Judo Tour Prize Money

Until March 2013, Japanese judokas were required to surrender half of their prize money to the All Japan Judo Federation. However, the regulations were revised, allowing athletes to retain the full amount. From July 2014, the IJF also began allocating prize money to coaches for each tournament, which resulted in a 20% reduction in individual athlete prize money.