Miki Ando (安藤 美姫, Andō Miki; born December 18, 1987) 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.
Ando was born on December 18, 1987, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Her father died in a traffic accident when she was eight years old. In 2006, Ando joined Toyota and also entered Chukyo University as an adult learner, from which she graduated in March 2011. She learned English during her time training in the U.S. In January 2013, she left Toyota Motor.
Ando gave birth to a daughter, Himawari ("sunflower" in Japanese), in April 2013.
Ando began skating in 1996 at the age of eight. Her first coach was Rina Horie. Yuko Monna, whose students at that time included Mao Asada and Mai Asada, soon began teaching Ando. Beginning in the 2000–01 season, she was coached by Nobuo Satō, and her program already featured a 3Lz-3Lo.
Making her junior international debut, Ando won both of her 2001–02 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignments and qualified for the JGP Final, where she also won gold. Nationally, she became the Japanese junior champion and senior bronze medalist. She concluded her season with bronze at the 2002 World Junior Championships.
Ando won both of her 2002–03 JGP assignments. At the JGP Final, she became the first female skater to land a quad jump of any kind in a competition, performing a quadruple Salchow jump on her way to the bronze medal. She remained the only woman ever to perform this feat until January 2018, when junior skater Alexandra Trusova ratified the same jump in competition. 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.
The 2004–05 season was her first full season as a senior skater. She won two medals in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series and qualified for the Grand Prix Final, where she placed fourth. She won her second national senior title and placed sixth at 2005 Worlds.
Ando relocated to the United States to train with Carol Heiss Jenkins in preparation for the 2005–06 season which included the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. The season began well, when she won the silver medal at the 2005 Cup of Russia, but she finished 4th at the 2005 NHK Trophy and narrowly qualified for the Grand Prix Final, where she placed 4th. At Japanese Nationals, she placed 6th.
Ando was named to the Japanese Olympic team in accordance with the criteria that were to include two seasons into consideration. At the Olympics, she placed 15th, after falling three times in her free skate, once on her quad attempt. She was not placed on the team to the World Championships the following month.
Ando changed coaches again for the 2006–07 season. Training with her new coach, Nikolai Morozov, Ando won gold at the 2006 Skate America and silver at the 2006 Trophée Eric Bompard. She qualified for the Grand Prix Final, where she placed 5th. It was later revealed that Ando, along with the rest of the Japanese team, competed in Saint Petersburg while suffering stomach flu.
At the Japanese Nationals, Ando dislocated her shoulder while performing a spin in her free skate but skated on to place second overall behind Mao Asada.
At the 2007 Worlds, Ando placed second in both the short program and the free skate, and scored a total of 195.09 points to win the World Championship by less than one point over Asada. 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" and received six other awards including the "most valuable mention" from the Japanese Olympic Committee.
Ando's 2007–08 season began with a silver medal at the 2007 Skate America but placed fourth at the 2007 NHK Trophy, where she fell three times in her free skate. She did not qualify for the Grand Prix Final. At the Japan Championships, she won the free skate to place second overall, again behind Asada.
In the following February, Ando competed for the first time at Four Continents, where she attempted a 4S but popped it to a double. She won the bronze medal. At Worlds, Ando was 8th after the short program and was forced to withdraw during her free skate due to a leg muscle strain she had been suffering since that morning.
In the 2008–09 Grand Prix season, Ando placed third after Yuna Kim and Yukari Nakano at Skate America and placed second, behind Kim, again, at the Cup of China. At the Grand Prix Final, Ando stayed on her foot after an attempted 4S in her free skate program, the first time in competition since 2004, though the rotations were not considered enough and the jump was downgraded. Despite her last place finish, Ando stated that she was very happy with her performance, and that she would continue to work on her 4S.
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. There, she won the bronze medal with a total of 190.38 after placing fourth in the short program and second in the free program.