Miki Ando is a figure skating athlete competing in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 for Japan.
Career highlights:
2007 world champion, 2009 world bronze medalist
Miki Ando was the surprise bronze medalist in the 2009 Worlds. The season prior, she competed with a shoulder injury and then injured her leg, forcing her to withdraw from the 2008 Worlds. With most of the attention fixated on the rivalry between Japanese teammate Mao Asada and South Korea's Yu-Na Kim, Ando quietly skated two clean programs to return to the podium.
Despite problems with her boots in the days leading up to the 2007 Worlds that prevented her from jumping until five days prior the competition, Ando won her first world title in front of a home crowd in Tokyo. Ando said she was surprised by her win and burst into tears upon realizing what she had accomplished. " It was my dream to stand center, and [see] my country flag," she said.
Japanese teammate Shizuka Arakawa took the gold medal in Torino, while Ando was 15th in her first Games. Ando says that Arakawa talked to her after the 2006 Olympics about the difference between her first and second Games. Though she didn't completely understand it then, Ando now can articulate the difference: "Torino was like [a] dream. I just went and had fun," she says. "Now I know what I have to do."
At 14, Ando became the first woman to land a quadruple jump, a Salchow, at the 2003 Junior Grand Prix Final. Ando says that she had "no idea" that she was the first to land it and didn't understand what the announcers were saying because she didn't know much English then. Recently, she's struggled with the jump under the Code of Points system and has been often downgraded, but Ando says she still practices the jump. "Everything has to be right" for her to put it in a competitive program.
Ando trains in Hackensack, New Jersey and loves to cross the river and spend time in New York City whenever she can. She loves shopping and often sees Broadway shows, naming Wicked, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid among her favorites.
A celebrity in Japan, Ando has been under a microscope since she first came into the international skating scene. The Japanese press follow her everywhere and comment on nearly everything that she does or wears. Accused by the press of wanting to be famous, Ando says that she skates because she loves to skate, not for any other reason. Training in the U.S. is easier for her than training in Japan, she says, because nobody follows her down the street. The scrutiny was so intense that in 2005, the Japanese Skating Federation sent a letter to a group of magazines asking them to scale back their Ando coverage.
Career highlights:
2007 world champion, 2009 world bronze medalist
Miki Ando was the surprise bronze medalist in the 2009 Worlds. The season prior, she competed with a shoulder injury and then injured her leg, forcing her to withdraw from the 2008 Worlds. With most of the attention fixated on the rivalry between Japanese teammate Mao Asada and South Korea's Yu-Na Kim, Ando quietly skated two clean programs to return to the podium.
Despite problems with her boots in the days leading up to the 2007 Worlds that prevented her from jumping until five days prior the competition, Ando won her first world title in front of a home crowd in Tokyo. Ando said she was surprised by her win and burst into tears upon realizing what she had accomplished. " It was my dream to stand center, and [see] my country flag," she said.
Japanese teammate Shizuka Arakawa took the gold medal in Torino, while Ando was 15th in her first Games. Ando says that Arakawa talked to her after the 2006 Olympics about the difference between her first and second Games. Though she didn't completely understand it then, Ando now can articulate the difference: "Torino was like [a] dream. I just went and had fun," she says. "Now I know what I have to do."
At 14, Ando became the first woman to land a quadruple jump, a Salchow, at the 2003 Junior Grand Prix Final. Ando says that she had "no idea" that she was the first to land it and didn't understand what the announcers were saying because she didn't know much English then. Recently, she's struggled with the jump under the Code of Points system and has been often downgraded, but Ando says she still practices the jump. "Everything has to be right" for her to put it in a competitive program.
Ando trains in Hackensack, New Jersey and loves to cross the river and spend time in New York City whenever she can. She loves shopping and often sees Broadway shows, naming Wicked, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid among her favorites.
A celebrity in Japan, Ando has been under a microscope since she first came into the international skating scene. The Japanese press follow her everywhere and comment on nearly everything that she does or wears. Accused by the press of wanting to be famous, Ando says that she skates because she loves to skate, not for any other reason. Training in the U.S. is easier for her than training in Japan, she says, because nobody follows her down the street. The scrutiny was so intense that in 2005, the Japanese Skating Federation sent a letter to a group of magazines asking them to scale back their Ando coverage.
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