This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One of the pioneers of Utah figure skating died on Sunday. Ida Shimizu Tateoka, the first U.S. Figure Skating Association judge ever from the Beehive State, was 92. Tateoka also played an integral role in bringing the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City.
She was part of the Utah delegation in Budapest, Hungary, on June 16, 1995, when it was revealed that Utah's capital would host the Winter Games in less than seven year's time.
During her lengthy tenure as an international skating official, Tateoka judged two Olympics, two World Championships, four Junior World Championships, 18 international competitions, 13 U.S. national championships and three Special Olympic International Games.
Tateoka started judging figure skating in 1953 before later being certified as a national and international judge. She was one of several judges during the figure skating competitions at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in which American Scott Hamilton and East Germany's Katarina Witt won respective golds.
Tateoka continued to judge figure skating's brightest stars for several decades, also including Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes among others.
Tateoka was one of the first skaters to glide around on the ice in Salt Lake City's first ice rink in Sugar House, and when parents of skaters formed the Utah Figure Skating Club, Tateoka was one of the inaugural members. Tateoka attended both BYU and the University of Utah, where she eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing.
Services will be held on Monday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. at the Cottonwood 4th Ward building on South Neighbor Lane in Salt Lake City.