is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2007 and 2011 World champion, 2011 Four Continents champion, 2004 World Junior champion, and a three-time (2003, 2004 & 2010) Japanese national champion.
Ando is the first female skater to complete a quadruple jump successfully in competition. She accomplished this at the 2002–03 Junior Grand Prix Final in The Hague, Netherlands.
Personal life
Ando was born on December 18, 1987, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
Ando gave birth to a daughter, Himawari ("sunflower" in Japanese), in April 2013.
Career
Early career
Ando began skating in 1996 at the age of eight. That season she defended her national Junior crown and took silver at the World Junior Championships.
Ando was prominent in 2003–04, winning all her junior competitions including the Junior Grand Prix Final, her third consecutive national junior title, and the Junior Worlds. She also won the Japan Championships (senior) and placed 4th at her first senior World Championships. Ando set new personal bests in both the short program and the free skate, and a new personal best total score. She was named one of Vogue Japan's "Women of the Year for 2007"
At the Japan Championships, she was in 3rd place after the short program. During the free skate warm-up, she collided with Fumie Suguri, and injured her knee. She placed third and earned one of Japan's three spots at the 2009 World Championships. Before the event, the Japanese skating federation wanted her to leave Morozov. She was originally said to have intended to move to Russia, but this plan had to be changed due to the smog and heat wave in Moscow.
2011–12 season
In June, it was reported that Ando would sit out the 2011–12 Grand Prix series.
Post-competitive
Ando has worked for Japanese television and begun coaching.
Away from figure skating
She joined SASUKE 39 at 28 December 2021. She failed Stage 1 at Dragon Glider.
Programs
thumb|Ando at the [[2011 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships|2011 Four Continents]]
thumb|Ando at the [[2010 Winter Olympics]]
thumb|Ando performing her exhibition [[Claudette Ortiz|Handcuffs at the 2008 Four Continents]]
Post–2014
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