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. 2008–09 season 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. Ando represented Japan in a team competition, 2009 ISU World Team Trophy, in Tokyo, Japan, where she placed 3rd at the short program, 6th at the free skate and 5th overall. Team Japan was placed 3rd, winning the bronze medal. 2009–10 season The Japan Skating Federation set, as one of its criteria for choosing the skaters to send to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the highest Japanese medal finisher at the Grand Prix Final. With this in mind, Ando competed at Rostelecom Cup; she placed third in the short program and won the free skate to win the competition overall. At the NHK Trophy, she placed second in both segments and first overall. The two wins qualified Ando for the Grand Prix Final. At this GP Final in Tokyo, Ando placed first in the short program, 0.56 points ahead of second-place finisher Yuna Kim, and second in the free skate. She was awarded the silver medal behind Kim but ahead of the bronze medalist Akiko Suzuki. With this result, she earned a spot in Japan's Olympic team despite placing fourth at the Japanese Championships. In February 2010, Ando competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British