Miki Ando

Japanese figure skater and the only woman in history to land a quadruple jump in competition, a two-time World Champion who dedicated her second title to tsunami disaster victims.

Miki Ando was born on 18 December 1987 in Nagoya, Japan, and began skating at eight. At the 2002-03 Junior Grand Prix Final in The Hague, aged just 14, she became the first female skater in history to land a quadruple jump in competition, a quadruple Salchow, a feat that remained unmatched by any woman until 2018. Ando suffered a disappointing 15th-place finish at the 2006 Turin Olympics after falling three times, prompting a coaching change to Nikolai Morozov, under whom she rebounded to win her first World Championship title in 2007 in Tokyo. She won bronze at the 2009 World Championships after colliding with a rival in training and injuring her knee days before the event, and gave birth to a daughter in 2013 before continuing to compete. Ando's second World Championship came in 2011 in Moscow, in a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Olympic champion Yuna Kim, weeks after Japan was struck by the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami; she dedicated the win to the disaster's victims, saying she hoped to 'bring back a little smile to the people of Japan.' She retired from competitive skating after the 2013-14 Japanese Championships and has since performed professionally and worked in Japanese figure skating television commentary.

Powerful, athletic jumper renowned for exceptional technical difficulty, backed by a resilient competitive spirit through repeated injuries

Remembered as a pioneering jumper who pushed the technical boundaries of women's skating, and for a deeply emotional World title that resonated with a nation in mourning

• 2x World Champion (2007, 2011)
• First woman to land a quadruple jump in competition
• 2011 Four Continents Champion
• 3x Japanese National Champion