Nao Kodaira (Japanese: 小平 奈緒; born 26 May 1986) is a Japanese former long track speed skater who specialised in the sprint distances.

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Nao Kodaira

Kodaira during the 2018 Olympics
Personal information
Native name	小平 奈緒
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1986-05-26) 26 May 1986 (age 37) Chino, Nagano, Japan
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Speed skating
Event(s)	500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m
Retired	2022
Medal record Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang 500 m 2018 Pyeongchang 1000 m 2010 Vancouver Team pursuit World Single Distances Championships 2017 Gangneung 500 m 2020 Salt Lake City 500 m 2017 Gangneung 1000 m 2019 Inzell 500 m 2015 Heerenveen 500 m 2019 Inzell 1000 m World Sprint Championships 2017 Calgary Sprint 2019 Heerenveen Sprint 2020 Hamar Sprint Asian Winter Games 2017 Sapporo 500 m 2017 Sapporo 1000 m 2011 Astana/Almaty 1500 m Winter Universiade 2009 Harbin 1500m 2007 Turin 1000m 2009 Harbin 1000m

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She is the 2018 Olympic champion in the 500 m distance. Kodaira is the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal in speed skating.

In 2009, she graduated from Shinshu University with a bachelor's degree in education.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics she won a silver medal in the team pursuit event. She placed 5th in the 1000 and the 1500 m events and 12th in the 500 m one at the Olympics. At the 2014–15 World Cup stop in Seoul, South Korea, on 21 November 2014, she won the 500 m event, and she has a total of 25 podium placings in the World Cup. At the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won the bronze medal in the 500 m event.

At the 2017 World Single Distance Championships, she became the first Japanese woman to win an individual single distance world title winning the women's 500 m event.^[1] She won also silver medal in the 1000 m event at the Championships. At the 2017 World Sprint Championships, she won the women's competition. In the season, she became overall winner of ISU World Cup 500 m cup.

Kodaira took the top step also in every single ISU World Cup one in the 2017–18 season ahead of the Olympics.^[2]

She is the current world record holder in the 2×500 metres and the sprint combination,^[3] and the former world record holder in the 1000 metres^[4] and the team sprint, as well as the current Olympic and Japanese record holder in the 500 metres.^[5][6]

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kodaira won gold medal in the women's 500 m event and the silver medal in the women's 1000 m event respectively. In the former, she also set an Olympic record and became the first woman to break the 37-second barrier at sea level, as well as the first female Japanese Olympic champion in speed skating.^[7] In April 2022, Kodaira announced that she will retire from speed skating in October after a final race at the national single distances championship to be held in her hometown Nagano.^[8]